(only in the dual) a pair of scales · noun, common masculine dual construct
abomination
תּוֹעֲבַ֣תto.'a.Vat
H8441
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
just
שְׁלֵמָ֣הshe.le.Mah
H8003
complete (literally or figuratively) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
weight
וְאֶ֖בֶןve.'E.ven
H68
a stone · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
delight
רְצוֹנֽוֹre.tzo.No
H7522
delight (especially as shown) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 25:13-16 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.
Proverbs 16:11 A just weight and balance are the LORD’s: all the weights of the bag are his work.
Proverbs 20:23 Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good.
Leviticus 19:35-36 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
Proverbs 20:10 Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.
Hosea 12:7 He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
Amos 8:5-6 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the…
Ezekiel 45:10-12 Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
John Gill on Proverbs 11:1
A false balance is abomination to the Lord,.... Under which are included all false weights and measures, and all fraudulent practices in commerce and dealing; which are forbidden by the Lord, and are abominable to him, as being injurious to the estates and properties of men: and more especially must be abominable in professors of religion, as being contrary to the grace of God; for though there may be common honesty where there is not the grace of God, yet there cannot be the true grace of God where there is not honesty; for the grace of God teaches to deny all such worldly lusts;
but a just weight is his delight; or a "perfect stone" (c); the ancient practice being to make use of stones fo…
The next three proverbs treat of honesty, discretion, and innocence or dove-like simplicity:
1 Deceitful balances are an abomination to Jahve;
But a full weight is His delight.
The very same proverb, with slightly varied expression, is found in Pro 20:23; and other such like proverbs, in condemnation of false and in approbation of true balances, are found, Pro 20:10; Pro 16:11; similar predicates, but connected with other subjects, are found at Pro 12:22; Pro 15:8. "An abomination to Jahve" is an expression we have already twice met with in the introduction, Pro 3:32; Pro 6:16, cf. Pro 8:7; תּועבה is, like תּועה, a participial noun, in which the active conception of abhorring is transferred…
Here, honest practices are applied to the business world (see also 16:11; 20:10, 23; Lev 19:35-37; Deut 25:13-15; Ezek 45:10; Hos 12:7-8; Mic 6:11). • Scales were often made of two metal bowls suspended from a crossbar. The unit of currency, the shekel, comes from the verb meaning “to weigh” (see Amos 8:5-6).
Therefore let every man weigh his words, not with deceit and guile, for a false balance is abomination to the Lord. I do not mean that balance which weighs the wares of others, (though even in lesser matters deceit often costs dear,) but that balance of words is hateful to the Lord, which wears the mask of the weight of sober gravity, and yet practises the artifices of cunning. Great is God's anger, if a man deceive his neighbour by flattering promises, and by treacherous subtlety oppress his debtor, a craft which will not benefit himself. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the riches of the whole world, and yet defraud his own soul of the wages of eternal life?
"A deceitful balance is abomination to the Lord," etc. A deceitful balance is not only held in the measurement of money but also in judicial discretion; for he who weighs the case of the poor differently from the case of the powerful, the case of a friend differently from that of a stranger, certainly uses an unjust balance. Also, he who judges his own good deeds to be better than those of his neighbor, and his own faults to be lighter, weighs with a deceitful scale. Likewise, he who imposes unbearable burdens on people's shoulders but does not want to touch them with one finger (Matt. XXIII). Also, he who does good in public and acts badly in secret will be abominated by the Lord for the iniquity of the deceitful balance. But he who acts sincerely in all things, who discerns each case with an even hand, certainly conforms to the will and action of the just judge.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Balance — Occurs in Lev. 19:36 and Isa. 46:6, as the rendering of the Hebrew kanch’, which properly means “a reed” or “a cane,” then a rod or beam of a balance. This same word is translated “measuring reed” in…
Abomination · .Unjust weights and measures — .Unjust weights and measures
Balances · An abomination — An abomination
Dishonesty · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Honesty · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Justice · God: Delights in — God: Delights in
Weights · Must be just — Must be just
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
