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
just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall ye have: I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
(Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;)
Men of low degree are only vanity; men of high degree, a lie: laid in the balance, they go up together lighter than vanity.
A false balance is an abomination to Jehovah; but a just weight is his delight.
They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance; they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
And he brought me thither, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a flax-cord in his hand, and a measuring-reed; and he stood in the gate.
And behold, there was a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring-reed of six cubits, each of one cubit and a hand breadth. And he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.
He measured the east side with the measuring-reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed round about. He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed round about. read more. He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed.
TEKEL, Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting;
And when it opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come and see. And I saw: and behold, a black horse, and he that sat upon it having a balance 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 hearkened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the money that he had named in the ears of the sons of Heth four hundred shekels of silver, current with the merchant.
And Abraham hearkened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the money that he had named in the ears of the sons of Heth four hundred shekels of silver, current with the merchant.
(Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;)
(Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;)
Men of low degree are only vanity; men of high degree, a lie: laid in the balance, they go up together lighter than vanity.
Men of low degree are only vanity; men of high degree, a lie: laid in the balance, they go up together lighter than vanity.
A false balance is an abomination to Jehovah; but a just weight is his delight.
A false balance is an abomination to Jehovah; but a just weight is his delight.
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with his span, and grasped the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in scales?
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with his span, and grasped the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in scales?
They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance; they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance; they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
And when it opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come and see. And I saw: and behold, a black horse, and he that sat upon it having a balance in his hand.
And when it opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come and see. And I saw: and behold, a black horse, and he that sat upon it having a balance 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
just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall ye have: I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.
A false balance is an abomination to Jehovah; but a just weight is his delight.
The just balance and scales are Jehovah's; all the weights of the bag are his work.
Divers weights are an abomination unto Jehovah; and a false balance is not good.
They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance; they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat? making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances for deceit:
Shall I be pure with the unjust balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?