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
You must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin; I [am] Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt.
let him weigh me in [the] balance of justice, and let God know my blamelessness.
Only a vapor [are] men of low degree, a deception [are] men of high degree. {Weighed} in a balance, together they [are lighter] than a vapor.
Balances of deceit [are] an abomination of Yahweh, but {an accurate weight} delights him.
Those who lavish gold from [the] purse and weigh out silver in the balance scales; hire {a goldsmith} and he makes him a god; they bow down, indeed they bow in worship.
And he brought me there, and look, there was a man whose appearance [was] like [the] appearance of bronze, and a cord of linen [was] in his hand and a reed for measurement; [he] was standing in the gate.
And there was a wall on [the] outside of the temple {all the way around it}, and in the hand of the man the reed for measurement [was] six [long] cubits, {according to} the cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the outer wall [as] one reed, and [the] height [as] one reed.
He measured the east side with the reed for measuring, five hundred cubits, with [respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement, [he measured it] all around. He measured the north side [as] five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement all around. read more. [Then] he measured the south side [as] five hundred [cubits], [with respect to] reeds with the reed for measurement.
" 'Tekel'--you have been weighed on scales and you have been found wanting.
And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one seated on it had a balance scale 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
Then Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver {at the merchants' current rate}.
Then Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver {at the merchants' current rate}.
let him weigh me in [the] balance of justice, and let God know my blamelessness.
let him weigh me in [the] balance of justice, and let God know my blamelessness.
Only a vapor [are] men of low degree, a deception [are] men of high degree. {Weighed} in a balance, together they [are lighter] than a vapor.
Only a vapor [are] men of low degree, a deception [are] men of high degree. {Weighed} in a balance, together they [are lighter] than a vapor.
Balances of deceit [are] an abomination of Yahweh, but {an accurate weight} delights him.
Balances of deceit [are] an abomination of Yahweh, but {an accurate weight} delights him.
Who has measured [the] waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off [the] heavens with span, comprehended the dust of the earth in third of a measure and weighed out [the] mountains in the scales, and [the] hills in a balance?
Who has measured [the] waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off [the] heavens with span, comprehended the dust of the earth in third of a measure and weighed out [the] mountains in the scales, and [the] hills in a balance?
Those who lavish gold from [the] purse and weigh out silver in the balance scales; hire {a goldsmith} and he makes him a god; they bow down, indeed they bow in worship.
Those who lavish gold from [the] purse and weigh out silver in the balance scales; hire {a goldsmith} and he makes him a god; they bow down, indeed they bow in worship.
And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one seated on it had a balance scale in his hand.
And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one seated on it had a balance scale 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
You must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin; I [am] Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt.
"There shall not be {for your use} in your bag {two kinds of stone weights, a large one and a small one}.
Balances of deceit [are] an abomination of Yahweh, but {an accurate weight} delights him.
A balance and scales of justice [belong] to Yahweh; all the weights of the bag [are] his work.
An abomination of Yahweh [is] {a stone and a weight}, and scales of falsehood are not good.
Those who lavish gold from [the] purse and weigh out silver in the balance scales; hire {a goldsmith} and he makes him a god; they bow down, indeed they bow in worship.
saying, "When will the new moon be over, so that we can sell grain? And the Sabbath, so that we can open the grain bins, that we can make [the] ephah small and make [the] shekel large, and can practice deceit [with] a set of scales of deceit?
Shall I regard as pure [the one] with scales of wickedness, and with a bag of deceitful weights?