Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, August 6th, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Micah 6:11

Can I forgive people who cheat others with wrong weights and scales?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Balances;   Character;   Dishonesty;   Measure;   Purity;   Weights;   Thompson Chain Reference - Business Life;   Dishonesty;   Just Weights;   Measures;   Social Duties;   Vices;   Virtues;   Weights;   The Topic Concordance - Deception;   Lying/lies;   Satisfaction;   Sin;   Violence;   Wealth;   Wickedness;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Character of the Wicked;   Weights;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Money;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Coins;   Micah, book of;   Steal;   Weights;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Testimony;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Bag;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Balances;   Economic Life;   Micah, Book of;   Weights and Measures;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Balance;   Lie, Lying;   Micah, Book of;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Righteousness;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Trade and Commerce;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Balances;   Purse,;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Balance;   Proverbs, Book of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Bag;   Balance;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Can I excuse wicked scalesor bags of deceptive weights?
Hebrew Names Version
Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, And with a bag of deceitful weights?
King James Version (1611)
Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitfull weights?
King James Version
Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
English Standard Version
Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?
New American Standard Bible
"Can I justify dishonest balances, And a bag of fraudulent weights?
Amplified Bible
"Can I [be guiltless and] justify deceptive scales And a bag of dishonest weights?
Geneva Bible (1587)
Shall I iustifie the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitfull weightes?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Can I justify wicked scales And a bag of deceptive weights?
Legacy Standard Bible
Can I purify wicked scalesAnd a bag of deceptive weights?
Berean Standard Bible
Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?
Contemporary English Version
But I, the Lord , will punish you for cheating with weights and with measures.
Complete Jewish Bible
Should I declare innocent wicked scales and a bag of fraudulent weights?
Darby Translation
Shall I be pure with the unjust balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
Easy-to-Read Version
Some people carry special weights that they use to cheat people when they weigh their goods. Should I pardon them?
George Lamsa Translation
How can they justify themselves with the wicked scales and with the bag of deceitful weights?
Good News Translation
How can I forgive those who use false scales and weights?
Lexham English Bible
Shall I regard as pure the one with scales of wickedness, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
Literal Translation
Shall I declare wicked balances to be pure, or a bag of stones of fraud?
American Standard Version
Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
Bible in Basic English
Is it possible for me to let wrong scales and the bag of false weights go without punishment?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
'Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?'
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Should I iustifie the false balaunces, and the bagge of deceitfull weightes?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Shall the wicked be justified by the balanced, or deceitful weights in the bag,
English Revised Version
Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
World English Bible
Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, And with a bag of deceitful weights?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether Y schal iustifie the wickid balaunce, and the gileful weiytis of litil sak,
Update Bible Version
Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
Webster's Bible Translation
Shall I count [them] pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
New English Translation
I do not condone the use of rigged scales, or a bag of deceptive weights.
New King James Version
Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, And with the bag of deceitful weights?
New Living Translation
How can I tolerate your merchants who use dishonest scales and weights?
New Life Bible
Can I make a man not guilty who lies and has false weights in his bag?
New Revised Standard
Can I tolerate wicked scales and a bag of dishonest weights?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Shall I be pure with lawless balances? or with bag of deceitful weights?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Shall I justify wicked balances, and the deceitful weights of the bag?
Revised Standard Version
Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?
Young's Literal Translation
Do I reckon [it] pure with balances of wickedness? And with a bag of deceitful stones?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Or shulde I iustfie the false balaunces and the bagge of disceatfull weightes,

Contextual Overview

9 The voice of the Lord calls to the city, and the wise person honors him. So pay attention to the rod of punishment; pay attention to the One who threatens to punish. 10 Are there still in the wicked house wicked treasures and the cursed false measure? 11 Can I forgive people who cheat others with wrong weights and scales? 12 The rich people of the city do cruel things. Its people tell lies; they do not tell the truth. 13 As for me, I will make you sick. I will attack you, ruining you because of your sins. 14 You will eat, but you won't become full; you will still be hungry and empty. You will store up, but save nothing, and what you store up, the sword will destroy. 15 You will plant, but you won't harvest. You will step on your olives, but you won't get any oil from them. You will crush the grapes, but you will not drink the new wine. 16 This is because you obey the laws of King Omri and do all the things that Ahab's family does; you follow their advice. So I will let you be destroyed. The people in your city will be laughed at, and other nations will make fun of you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

count them pure: or, be pure

the wicked: Hosea 12:7

the bag: Proverbs 16:11

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:15 - General Exodus 34:7 - that will by no means clear the guilty Deuteronomy 25:13 - in thy bag Job 31:6 - Let me be weighed in an even balance Proverbs 11:1 - A false balance is Proverbs 20:10 - both Jeremiah 5:27 - so are Ezekiel 22:13 - thy dishonest Ezekiel 45:10 - General Amos 8:5 - making James 2:6 - Do

Cross-References

Genesis 6:1
The number of people on earth began to grow, and daughters were born to them.
Genesis 6:2
When the sons of God saw that these girls were beautiful, they married any of them they chose.
Genesis 7:1
Then the Lord said to Noah, "I have seen that you are the best person among the people of this time, so you and your family can go into the boat.
Genesis 10:9
He was a great hunter before the Lord , which is why people say someone is "like Nimrod, a great hunter before the Lord ."
Genesis 13:13
Now the people of Sodom were very evil and were always sinning against the Lord .
2 Chronicles 34:27
When you heard my words against this place and its people, you became sorry for what you had done and you humbled yourself before me. You tore your clothes to show how upset you were, and you cried in my presence. This is why I have heard you, says the Lord .
Psalms 11:5
The Lord tests those who do right, but he hates the wicked and those who love to hurt others.
Psalms 55:9
Lord, destroy and confuse their words, because I see violence and fighting in the city.
Psalms 140:11
Don't let liars settle in the land. Let evil quickly hunt down cruel people.
Isaiah 60:18
There will be no more violence in your country; it will not be ruined or destroyed. You will name your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Shall I count [them] pure with the wicked balances,.... These are the words either of the prophet, or rather of God, signifying that he could not, and would not, allow, countenance, and approve of persons that used false scales or balances; or justify and reckon them just, as they would be thought to be, but condemn them, and pronounce them very wicked men, and deserving of punishment here and hereafter:

and with the bag of deceitful weights? or "stones" o; which were used in weighing goods, and which were deceitful, when a heavier was used in buying, and a lighter in selling. So the Targum,

"and with the bag, in which are weights greater and lesser;''

condemned in Deuteronomy 25:13.

o אבני מרמה "lapidum doli", Piscator; "lapidum fraudis", Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Shall I count them pure? - Rather, (as the English margin) “Shall I be pure?” The prophet takes for the time their person and bids them judge themselves in him. If it would defile me, how are ye, with all your other sins, not defiled? All these things were expressly forbidden in the law. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah and a just him, shall ye have” Leviticus 19:35-36; and, “Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteousness are an abomination unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 25:13, Deuteronomy 25:15-16, add Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Proverbs 20:10). Yet are not these things common even now?


 
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