Job 31:6

31:6 let him ¹  weigh me with honest ²  scales;

then God will discover ³  my integrity.

Psalms 62:9

62:9 Men are nothing but a mere breath;

human beings are unreliable. ⁴ 

When they are weighed in the scales,

all of them together are lighter than air. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 6:30

6:30 They are regarded as ‘rejected silver’ ⁶ 

because the Lord rejects them.”

Ezekiel 22:18-20

22:18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; ⁷  they are the worthless slag of silver. 22:19 Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you ⁸  have become slag, look out! – I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. ⁹  22:20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there ¹⁰  and melt you.

¹ tn “God” is undoubtedly the understood subject of this jussive. However, “him” is retained in the translation at this point to avoid redundancy since “God” occurs in the second half of the verse.

² tn The word צֶדֶךְ (tsedeq, “righteousness”) forms a fitting genitive for the scales used in trade or justice. The “scales of righteousness” are scales that conform to the standard (see the illustration in Deut 25:13-15). They must be honest scales to make just decisions.

³ tn The verb is וְיֵדַע (vÿyeda’, “and [then] he [God] will know”). The verb could also be subordinated to the preceding jussive, “so that God may know.” The meaning of “to know” here has more the idea of “to come to know; to discover.”

⁴ tn Heb “only a breath [are] the sons of mankind, a lie [are] the sons of man.” The phrases “sons of mankind” and “sons of man” also appear together in Ps 49:2. Because of the parallel line there, where “rich and poor” are mentioned, a number of interpreters and translators treat these expressions as polar opposites, בְּנֵי אָדָם (bÿney ’adam) referring to the lower classes and בְּנֵי אִישׁ (bÿney ’ish) to higher classes. But usage does not support such a view. The rare phrase בְּנֵי אִישׁ (“sons of man”) appears to refer to human beings in general in its other uses (see Pss 4:2; Lam 3:33). It is better to understand the phrases as synonymous expressions.

⁵ tn The noun הֶבֶל (hevel), translated “a breath” earlier in the verse, appears again here.

⁶ tn This translation is intended to reflect the wordplay in the Hebrew text where the same root word is repeated in the two lines.

⁷ tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26; Jer 6:27-30.

⁸ tn The Hebrew second person pronoun is masculine plural here and in vv. 19b-21, indicating that the people are being addressed.

⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁰ tn Heb “I will put.” No object is supplied in the Hebrew, prompting many to emend the text to “I will blow.” See BHS and verse 21.