Reference: Balance
Easton
occurs in Le 19:36; Isa 46:6, as the rendering of the Hebrew kanch', which properly means "a reed" or "a cane," then a rod or beam of a balance. This same word is translated "measuring reed" in Eze 40:3,5; 42:16-18. There is another Hebrew word, mozena'yim, i.e., "two poisers", also so rendered (Da 5:27). The balances as represented on the most ancient Egyptian monuments resemble those now in use. A "pair of balances" is a symbol of justice and fair dealing (Job 31:6; Ps 62:9; Pr 11:1). The expression denotes great want and scarcity in Re 6:5.
Illustration: Balance
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Have true scales, true weights and measures for all things: I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt;
(Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:)
Truly men of low birth are nothing, and men of high position are not what they seem; if they are put in the scales together they are less than a breath.
Scales of deceit are hated by the Lord, but a true weight is his delight.
As for those who take gold out of a bag, and put silver in the scales, they give payment to a gold-worker, to make it into a god; they go down on their faces and give it worship.
He took me there, and I saw a man, looking like brass, with a linen cord in his hand and a measuring rod: and he was stationed in the doorway.
And there was a wall on the outside of the house all round, and in the man's hand there was a measuring rod six cubits long by a cubit and a hand's measure: so he took the measure of the building from side to side, one rod; and from base to top, one rod.
He went round and took the measure of it on the east side with the measuring rod, five hundred, measured with the rod all round. And he went round and took the measure of it on the north side with the measuring rod, five hundred, measured with the rod all round. read more. And he went round and took the measure of it on the south side with the measuring rod, five hundred, measured with the rod all round.
Tekel; you have been put in the scales and seen to be under weight.
And when the third stamp was undone, the voice of the third beast came to my ears, saying, Come and see. And I saw a black horse; and he who was seated on it had scales in his hand.
Fausets
The emblem of justice (Job 31:6; Ps 62:9; Pr 11:1) the test of truth and honesty. The emblem of scarcity, food being weighed out Re 6:5). Mozenaim, "double scales" (Ge 23:16). Qaneh, "the beam of a balance" (Isa 46:6). Peles, "scales" (Isa 40:12): literally, "the beam", or else the aperture in which the tongue or beam moves.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.
And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.
(Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:)
(Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:)
Truly men of low birth are nothing, and men of high position are not what they seem; if they are put in the scales together they are less than a breath.
Truly men of low birth are nothing, and men of high position are not what they seem; if they are put in the scales together they are less than a breath.
Scales of deceit are hated by the Lord, but a true weight is his delight.
Scales of deceit are hated by the Lord, but a true weight is his delight.
In the hollow of whose hand have the waters been measured? and who is able to take the heavens in his stretched-out fingers? who has got together the dust of the earth in a measure? who has taken the weight of the mountains, or put the hills into the scales?
In the hollow of whose hand have the waters been measured? and who is able to take the heavens in his stretched-out fingers? who has got together the dust of the earth in a measure? who has taken the weight of the mountains, or put the hills into the scales?
As for those who take gold out of a bag, and put silver in the scales, they give payment to a gold-worker, to make it into a god; they go down on their faces and give it worship.
As for those who take gold out of a bag, and put silver in the scales, they give payment to a gold-worker, to make it into a god; they go down on their faces and give it worship.
And when the third stamp was undone, the voice of the third beast came to my ears, saying, Come and see. And I saw a black horse; and he who was seated on it had scales in his hand.
And when the third stamp was undone, the voice of the third beast came to my ears, saying, Come and see. And I saw a black horse; and he who was seated on it had scales in his hand.
Hastings
The Hebrew balances probably differed but little from those in use in Egypt as described by Wilkinson (Anc. Egyp. [1878], II. 246 f.). The main parts were the beam with its support, and the scales which were hung by cords from the ends of the equal arms of the beam. The 'pair of scales' is used in OT by a figure for the balance as a whole; only once is the beam so used (Isa 46:6). The weights were originally of stone and are always so termed. The moral necessity of a just balance and true weights and the iniquity of false ones are frequently emphasized by the prophets, moral teachers, and legislators of Israel; see Am 8:5; Mic 6:11; Pr 11:1; 16:11 ('a just balance and scales are the Lord's') Pr 20:23; Le 19:36; De 25:13 ff.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Have true scales, true weights and measures for all things: I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt;
Do not have in your bag different weights, a great and a small;
Scales of deceit are hated by the Lord, but a true weight is his delight.
True measures and scales are the Lord's: all the weights of the bag are his work.
Unequal weights are disgusting to the Lord, and false scales are not good.
As for those who take gold out of a bag, and put silver in the scales, they give payment to a gold-worker, to make it into a god; they go down on their faces and give it worship.
Saying, When will the new moon be gone, so that we may do trade in grain? and the Sabbath, so that we may put out in the market the produce of our fields? making the measure small and the price great, and trading falsely with scales of deceit;
Is it possible for me to let wrong scales and the bag of false weights go without punishment?