Leviticus 19:35-36

19:35 You must not do injustice in the regulation of measures, whether of length, weight, or volume. ¹  19:36 You must have honest balances, ²  honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. ³  I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 25:13-16

25:13 You must not have in your bag different stone weights, ⁴  a heavy and a light one. ⁵  25:14 You must not have in your house different measuring containers, ⁶  a large and a small one. 25:15 You must have an accurate and correct ⁷  stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you. 25:16 For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent ⁸  to the Lord your God.

Proverbs 11:1

11:1 The Lord abhors ⁹  dishonest scales, ¹⁰ 

but an accurate weight ¹¹  is his delight.

Proverbs 20:10

20:10 Diverse weights and diverse measures ¹²  –

the Lord abhors ¹³  both of them.

Proverbs 20:23

20:23 The Lord abhors ¹⁴  differing weights,

and dishonest scales are wicked. ¹⁵ 

Ezekiel 45:9-12

45:9 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Put away violence and destruction, and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people, ¹⁶  declares the sovereign Lord. 45:10 You must use just balances, ¹⁷  a just dry measure (an ephah), ¹⁸  and a just liquid measure (a bath). ¹⁹  45:11 The dry and liquid measures will be the same, the bath will contain a tenth of a homer, ²⁰  and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure. 45:12 The shekel will be twenty gerahs. Sixty shekels ²¹  will be a mina for you.

Hosea 12:7-8

The Lord Refutes Israel’s False Claim of Innocence

12:7 The businessmen love to cheat; ²² 

they use dishonest scales. ²³ 

12:8 Ephraim boasts, ²⁴  “I am very rich!

I have become wealthy! ²⁵ 

In all that I have done to gain my wealth, ²⁶ 

no one can accuse me of any offense ²⁷  that is actually sinful.” ²⁸ 

Amos 8:5-6

8:5 You say,

“When will the new moon festival ²⁹  be over, ³⁰  so we can sell grain?

When will the Sabbath end, ³¹  so we can open up the grain bins? ³² 

We’re eager ³³  to sell less for a higher price, ³⁴ 

and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales! ³⁵ 

8:6 We’re eager to trade silver for the poor, ³⁶ 

a pair of sandals ³⁷  for the needy!

We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!” ³⁸ 

[19:35]  ¹ tn That is, liquid capacity (HALOT 640 s.v. מְשׂוּרָה). Cf. ASV, NIV, NRSV, TEV “quantity”; NAB, NASB “capacity.”

[19:36]  ² tn Heb “balances of righteousness,” and so throughout this sentence.

[19:36]  ³ sn An ephah is a dry measure which measures about four gallons, or perhaps one third of a bushel, while a hin is a liquid measure of about 3.6 liters (= approximately 1 quart).

[25:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “a stone and a stone.” The repetition of the singular noun here expresses diversity, as the following phrase indicates. See IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.

[25:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “a large and a small,” but since the issue is the weight, “a heavy and a light one” conveys the idea better in English.

[25:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “an ephah and an ephah.” An ephah refers to a unit of dry measure roughly equivalent to five U.S. gallons (just under 20 liters). On the repetition of the term to indicate diversity, see IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.

[25:15]  ⁷ tn Or “just”; Heb “righteous.”

[25:16]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[11:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) is a subjective genitive.

[11:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “scales of deception.” The genitive is attributive: “deceptive scales.” This refers to dishonesty in the market where silver was weighed in the scales. God condemns dishonest business practices (Deut 25:13-16; Lev 10:35-36), as did the ancient Near East (ANET 388, 423).

[11:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a perfect stone.” Stones were used for measuring amounts of silver on the scales; here the stone that pleases the Lord is whole, complete, perfect (from שָׁלֵם, shalem). It was one that would give an honest, accurate measurement.

[20:10]  ¹² tn The construction simply uses repetition to express different kinds of weights and measures: “a stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah.”

[20:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The phrase features a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.”

[20:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” This expression features a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.”

[20:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “not good.” This is a figure known as tapeinosis – a deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario: “it is wicked!” (e.g., 11:1; 20:10).

[45:9]  ¹⁶ sn Evictions of the less fortunate by the powerful are described in 1 Kgs 21:1-16; Jer 22:1-5, 13-17; Ezek 22:25.

[45:10]  ¹⁷ sn Previous legislation regarding this practice may be found in Lev 19:35-36; Deut 25:13-16; Mic 6:10-12.

[45:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “ephah,” which was 1/2 bushel.

[45:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “bath,” a liquid measure, was 5 1/2 gallons.

[45:11]  ²⁰ sn The homer was about 5 bushels as a dry measure and 55 gallons as a liquid measure.

[45:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, fifteen shekels.”

[12:7]  ²² tn Heb “the merchant…loves to cheat.” The Hebrew has singular forms (noun and verb) which are used generically to refer to all Israelite merchants and traders in general. The singular noun II כְּנַעַן (kÿna’an, “a merchant; a trader”; BDB 488 s.v. II כְּנַעַן) is used in a generic sense to refer to the merchant class of Israel as a whole (e.g., Ezek 16:29; 17:4; Zeph 1:11).

[12:7]  ²³ tn Heb “The merchant – in his hand are scales of deceit – loves to cheat.” The present translation rearranges the Hebrew line division to produce a smoother English rendering.

[12:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “says” (so NAB).

[12:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I have found wealth for myself.” The verb מָצַא (matsa’, “to find”) is repeated in 12:8 to create a wordplay that is difficult to reproduce in translation. The Israelites have “found” (מָצַא) wealth for themselves (i.e., become wealthy; v. 8a) through dishonest business practices (v. 7). Nevertheless, they claim that no guilt can be “found” (מָצַא) in anything they have done in gaining their wealth (v. 8b).

[12:8]  ²⁶ tc The MT reads the 1st person common singular suffix on the noun יְגִיעַי (yÿgi’ay, “my labors/gains”; masculine plural noun + 1st person common singular suffix). The LXX’s οἱ πόνοι αὐτοῦ ({oi ponoi autou, “his labors”) assumes a 3rd person masculine singular suffix on the noun יְגִיעַיו (yÿgi’av, “his labors/gains”; masculine plural noun + 3rd person masculine singular suffix). The BHS editors suggest adopting the LXX reading. The textual decision is based upon whether or not this line continues the speech of Ephraim (1st person common singular suffix) or whether these are the words of the prophet (3rd person masculine singular suffix). See the following translator’s note for the two rival lexical meanings which in turn lead to the textual options for the line as a whole.

[12:8]  ²⁷ tn The phrase מָצָאתִי אוֹן לִי (matsa’ti ’on li, “I have found wealth for myself” = I have become wealthy) forms a wordplay with לֹא יִמְצְאוּ לִי עָוֹן (lo’ yimtsÿ’u li ’avon, “they will not find guilt in me”). The repetition of מָצָא לִי (matsa’ li) is enhanced by the paronomasia between the similar sounding nouns עוֹן (’on, “guilt”) and אוֹן (’on, “wealth”). The wordplay emphasizes that Israel’s acquisition of wealth cannot be divorced from his guilt in dishonest business practices. Israel has difficulty in protesting his innocence that he is not guilty (עוֹן) of the dishonest acquisition of wealth (אוֹן).

[12:8]  ²⁸ tc The MT reads “[in] all my gains, they will not find guilt in me which would be sin.” The LXX reflects a Hebrew Vorlage which would be translated “in all his labors, he cannot offset his guilt which is sin.” Some translations follow the LXX: “but all his riches can never offset the guilt he has incurred” (RSV); “None of his gains shall atone for the guilt of his sins” (NEB); “All his gain shall not suffice him for the guilt of his sin” (NAB). Most follow the MT: “In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin” (KJV); “In all my labors they will find in me no iniquity, which would be sin” (NASB); “With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin” (NIV); “All my gains do not amount to an offense which is real guilt” (NJPS); “No one can accuse us [sic] of getting rich dishonestly” (TEV); “I earned it all on my own, without committing a sin” (CEV). See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:262-63.

[8:5]  ²⁹ sn Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.

[8:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “pass by.”

[8:5]  ³¹ tn The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[8:5]  ³² tn Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.

[8:5]  ³³ tn Here and in v. 6 the words “we’re eager” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “to make small the ephah and to make great the shekel.” The “ephah” was a unit of dry measure used to determine the quantity purchased, while the “shekel” was a standard weight used to determine the purchase price. By using a smaller than standard ephah and a heavier than standard shekel, these merchants were able to increase their profit (“sell less for a higher price”) by cheating the buyer.

[8:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; NASB, NIV “dishonest scales”; NRSV “false balances.”

[8:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “to buy the poor for silver.”

[8:6]  ³⁷ tn See the note on the word “sandals” in 2:6.

[8:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “The chaff of the grain we will sell.”