The Lord demands accurate scales and balances; he sets the standards for fairness.
Parallel translations
- WEB Honest balances and scales are Yahweh’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.
- KJV A just weight and balance are the LORD’s: all the weights of the bag are his work.
- BSB Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.
- NKJV Honest weights and scales are the Lord’s; All the weights in the bag are His work.
- NASB A just balance and scales belong to the Lord; All the weights of the bag are His concern.
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
Honest weights and measures belong to the Lord and reflect His standard. It matters because God Himself stands behind fairness and integrity in commerce.
Overview
This proverb roots commercial honesty in God, declaring just balances and weights to be His. Cheating in trade is therefore an offense against the Lord, not merely against neighbors (cf. Leviticus 19:35-36). It reveals that everyday economic integrity is part of true worship and reverence for God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 11:1A false balance is an abomination to Yahweh, but accurate weights are his delight.
- Prov 20:10Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.
- Prov 20:23Yahweh detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.
- Deut 25:13–15You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light.
- Lev 19:35–36“‘You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity.
- Ezek 45:10You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
- Hos 12:7A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud.
- Amos 8:5Saying, ‘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;
- Mic 6:11Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
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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 16:11 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.