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.

Proverbs 11:1

11:1 The Lord abhors ⁴  dishonest scales, ⁵ 

but an accurate weight ⁶  is his delight.

Proverbs 16:11

16:11 Honest scales and balances ⁷  are from the Lord;

all the weights ⁸  in the bag are his handiwork.

Proverbs 20:10

20:10 Diverse weights and diverse measures ⁹  –

the Lord abhors ¹⁰  both of them.

Proverbs 21:3

21:3 To do righteousness and justice

is more acceptable ¹¹  to the Lord than sacrifice. ¹² 

Amos 8:4-6

8:4 Listen to this, you who trample ¹³  the needy,

and do away with ¹⁴  the destitute in the land.

8:5 You say,

“When will the new moon festival ¹⁵  be over, ¹⁶  so we can sell grain?

When will the Sabbath end, ¹⁷  so we can open up the grain bins? ¹⁸ 

We’re eager ¹⁹  to sell less for a higher price, ²⁰ 

and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales! ²¹ 

8:6 We’re eager to trade silver for the poor, ²² 

a pair of sandals ²³  for the needy!

We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!” ²⁴ 

Micah 6:10-11

6:10 “I will not overlook, ²⁵  O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away, ²⁶ 

or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much. ²⁷ 

6:11 I do not condone the use of rigged scales,

or a bag of deceptive weights. ²⁸ 

[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).

[11:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) is a subjective genitive.

[11:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[16:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “a scale and balances of justice.” This is an attributive genitive, meaning “just scales and balances.” The law required that scales and measures be accurate and fair (Lev 19:36; Deut 25:13). Shrewd dishonest people kept light and heavy weights to make unfair transactions.

[16:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “stones.”

[20:10]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The phrase features a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.”

[21:3]  ¹¹ tn The Niphal participle בָּחַר (bakhar, “to choose”) means “choice to the Lord” or “chosen of the Lord,” meaning “acceptable to the Lord”; cf. TEV “pleases the Lord more.”

[21:3]  ¹² sn The Lord prefers righteousness above religious service (e.g., Prov 15:8; 21:29; 1 Sam 15:22; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:11-17). This is not a rejection of ritual worship; rather, religious acts are without value apart from righteous living.

[8:4]  ¹³ tn See the note on the word “trample” in 2:7.

[8:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “put an end to”; or “exterminate.”

[8:5]  ¹⁵ sn Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.

[8:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “pass by.”

[8:5]  ¹⁷ tn The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[8:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.

[8:5]  ¹⁹ tn Here and in v. 6 the words “we’re eager” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:5]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; NASB, NIV “dishonest scales”; NRSV “false balances.”

[8:6]  ²² tn Heb “to buy the poor for silver.”

[8:6]  ²³ tn See the note on the word “sandals” in 2:6.

[8:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “The chaff of the grain we will sell.”

[6:10]  ²⁵ tn The meaning of the first Hebrew word in the line is unclear. Possibly it is a combination of the interrogative particle and אִשׁ (’ish), an alternate form of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is/are”). One could then translate literally, “Are there treasures of sin [in] the house of the sinful?” The translation assumes an emendation to הַאֶשֶּׁה (ha’esheh, from נָשָׁא, nasha’, “to forget”), “Will I forget?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “No, I will not forget.”

[6:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the treasures of sin”; NASB “treasures of wickedness”; NIV “ill-gotten treasures.”

[6:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the accursed scant measure.”

[6:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Do I acquit sinful scales, and a bag of deceptive weights?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “No, I do not,” and has been translated as a declarative statement for clarity and emphasis.