An instrument made of a rod with pans on both ends, used for weighing objects.
About Balance
Devices used to weigh objects by opposing them with a known weight. Balances or scales have been used since at least the middle of the second millennium BC. Early depictions and inscriptions in Egyptian tombs provide insights into the appearance of these ancient scales. A pair of balances found in Ugarit dates back to around 1400 BC.
Balances typically had four main parts:
Key References
You shall maintain honest scales and weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is His delight.
Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?
And when the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” Then I looked and saw a black horse, and its rider held in his hand a pair of scales.
All Scripture References (18)
Leviticus (1)
You shall maintain honest scales and weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Job (2)
Psalms (1)
Place no trust in extortion or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
Proverbs (3)
Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is His delight.
Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.
Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are no good.
Isaiah (3)
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
Jeremiah (1)
I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.
Ezekiel (2)
“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.
You must use honest scales, a just ephah, and a just bath.
Daniel (1)
TEKEL means that you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.
Hosea (1)
And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”
Amos (1)
asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
Micah (1)
Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?
Revelation (1)
And when the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” Then I looked and saw a black horse, and its rider held in his hand a pair of scales.