False weights and unequal measures— the Lord detests double standards of every kind.
Parallel translations
- WEB Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.
- KJV Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.
- BSB Differing weights and unequal measures—both are detestable to the LORD.
- NKJV Diverse weights and diverse measures, They are both alike, an abomination to the Lord.
- NASB Differing weights and differing measures, Both of them are abominable to the Lord.
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
Cheating with rigged weights and measures is detestable to God. It matters because the Lord cares about honesty and justice in everyday business.
Overview
Merchants could defraud customers by using one set of weights to buy and another to sell. The Lord calls such dishonesty an 'abomination,' showing that worship and ethics are inseparable. God's own justice and integrity are the standard, and the law repeatedly forbade false measures (Leviticus 19:35-36; Deuteronomy 25:13-16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 20:23Yahweh detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.
- Prov 11:1A false balance is an abomination to Yahweh, but accurate weights are his delight.
- Mic 6:10–11Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?
- Prov 16:11Honest balances and scales are Yahweh’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.
- Deut 25:13–15You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light.
- Lev 19:35“‘You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity.
- Amos 8:4–7Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
- Rev 21:8But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
- Deut 7:25–26You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
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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 20:10 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
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