A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight.
Parallel translations
- WEB A false balance is an abomination to Yahweh, but accurate weights are his delight.
- KJV A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.
- BSB Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is His delight.
- NKJV Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight.
- NLT The Lord detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God hates dishonest scales but delights in fair weights. Integrity in business and commerce matters deeply to the Lord.
Overview
In an economy of weights and measures, a rigged balance was a common way to cheat, and God names it an 'abomination.' The proverb shows that everyday honesty is a matter of worship, not merely ethics. The God who delights in just dealings is the same God who is perfectly faithful and calls His people to reflect His truthfulness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Deut 25:13–16You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light.
- Prov 16:11Honest balances and scales are Yahweh’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.
- Prov 20:23Yahweh detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.
- Lev 19:35–36“‘You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity.
- Prov 20:10Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.
- Hos 12:7A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud.
- Amos 8:5–6Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
- Ezek 45:10–12You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
- Mic 6:10–11Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 11:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.