Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
It forbids all unrighteousness in judgment and in measuring length, weight, and quantity or capacity, including judgment over land, forbidding false, dishonest or manipulated measures and requiring fair dealing with one another. Judgment covers both legal decisions and business judgment of value, with the standard defined as just balances, just weights, and just standard containers for dry and liquid measure. The command rests on the authority of the Lord God who brought Israel out of Egypt, obliging observance of all His statutes and judgments. It requires strict, complete honesty in every business transaction and reckoning, without partiality, fraud, deception or selfish advantage, especially in buying and selling land, forbidding concealment of defects, exaggeration of benefits, and taking advantage to make a sale or make money. Oppressing the poor, withholding what is due, depriving any person of his right, and every scheme to gain by injustice is actual robbery that God marks as abhorred and will in no case tolerate, for holiness is justice in dealing with others in agreement with loving one's neighbor and treating others as one wishes to be treated.
Meaning and Authority
No unrighteousness is to be done in judgment, in meteyard — measurement of length — in weight, or in measure of quantity or capacity, including judgment over land measurement. False, dishonest, or manipulated measures of length, weight, and capacity must not be used to cheat anyone, but all are to deal fairly with one another. Balances and weights must be accurate, and measures must be standard and true.
Judgment here covers both legal decisions and business judgment of value, so fairness in trade is part of observing and doing God's statutes and judgments. The next verse defines the standard as just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. That means accurate balances and weights and standard containers for dry and liquid measure, the ephah for dry measure and the hin for liquid measure.
The command rests on the authority of the Lord God who brought Israel out of Egypt. For that reason Israel is to observe and practice, to observe and do, all His statutes and judgments.
The requirement expresses holiness as justice in dealing with others. It stands in perfect agreement with the New Testament command to love one's neighbor and to owe no one anything but love, binding all in God's work to do business on principles of justice and equity without oppression. Its principle is that God's workers are to treat others as they themselves wish to be treated and to live as representatives of truth and righteousness.
Honest Dealing Required
Strict, complete honesty is required in every business transaction and reckoning, without partiality, fraud, deception, or selfish advantage. This applies especially to buying and selling real estate and land, forbidding concealment of defects and unfavorable facts, exaggeration of benefits, presenting property in a deceptively favorable light, uttering guile about it, and taking advantage of occasions and uncertain claims that value will rise in order to make a sale or make money. Oppressing the poor, withholding money from those to whom it is due, depriving any person of his right, and every scheme to gain by injustice is unrighteousness and actual robbery. Such oppression may be punished by human courts only in extreme cases, but God marks it as an abhorred practice He will in no case tolerate, and He condemns injustice wherever and in whomever it appears.
Oppressing brethren in any way is forbidden, and God's gifts are to be shared, with the gleanings of harvest field, orchard, and vineyard regarded as the Lord's portion to relieve the necessities of the poor and the stranger. The requirement applies to transactions in councils and board meetings of God's institutions, forbidding all cheating, oppression, and unrighteous dealing and the use of position and great light to deal unfairly. God's eye reads every dishonest transaction, and trampling His precepts incurs certain punishment, especially for those who have betrayed great light. God will strike a blow to deliver His oppressed people and raise up humble men to do His will, while proud control that seeks prosperity by building on the ruins of truth, righteousness, justice, and purity stands condemned.
The command protests the greed of the natural heart and forbids hasting to be rich, speculation, and thirst for gain by unrighteous dealing. Such dealing is not innocent, and God records those who practice it as guilty of fraud and transgression. Instead the call is to trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God who gives richly all things to enjoy, being without covetousness and content with what is had. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life, since loving silver and abundance never satisfies, confidence in gold pierces with many sorrows, and gaining the whole world profits nothing if the soul is lost.
It forbids all unrighteousness in judgment and in measuring length, weight, and quantity or capacity, including judgment over land, forbidding false, dishonest or manipulated measures and requiring fair dealing with one another. Judgment covers both legal decisions and business judgment of value, with the standard defined as just balances, just weights, and just standard containers for dry and liquid measure. The command rests on the authority of the Lord God who brought Israel out of Egypt, obliging observance of all His statutes and judgments. It requires strict, complete honesty in every business transaction and reckoning, without partiality, fraud, deception or selfish advantage, especially in buying and selling land, forbidding concealment of defects, exaggeration of benefits, and taking advantage to make a sale or make money. Oppressing the poor, withholding what is due, depriving any person of his right, and every scheme to gain by injustice is actual robbery that God marks as abhorred and will in no case tolerate, for holiness is justice in dealing with others in agreement with loving one's neighbor and treating others as one wishes to be treated.
Meaning and Authority
No unrighteousness is to be done in judgment, in meteyard — measurement of length — in weight, or in measure of quantity or capacity, including judgment over land measurement. False, dishonest, or manipulated measures of length, weight, and capacity must not be used to cheat anyone, but all are to deal fairly with one another. Balances and weights must be accurate, and measures must be standard and true.
Judgment here covers both legal decisions and business judgment of value, so fairness in trade is part of observing and doing God's statutes and judgments. The next verse defines the standard as just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. That means accurate balances and weights and standard containers for dry and liquid measure, the ephah for dry measure and the hin for liquid measure.
The command rests on the authority of the Lord God who brought Israel out of Egypt. For that reason Israel is to observe and practice, to observe and do, all His statutes and judgments.
The requirement expresses holiness as justice in dealing with others. It stands in perfect agreement with the New Testament command to love one's neighbor and to owe no one anything but love, binding all in God's work to do business on principles of justice and equity without oppression. Its principle is that God's workers are to treat others as they themselves wish to be treated and to live as representatives of truth and righteousness.
Honest Dealing Required
Strict, complete honesty is required in every business transaction and reckoning, without partiality, fraud, deception, or selfish advantage. This applies especially to buying and selling real estate and land, forbidding concealment of defects and unfavorable facts, exaggeration of benefits, presenting property in a deceptively favorable light, uttering guile about it, and taking advantage of occasions and uncertain claims that value will rise in order to make a sale or make money. Oppressing the poor, withholding money from those to whom it is due, depriving any person of his right, and every scheme to gain by injustice is unrighteousness and actual robbery. Such oppression may be punished by human courts only in extreme cases, but God marks it as an abhorred practice He will in no case tolerate, and He condemns injustice wherever and in whomever it appears.
Oppressing brethren in any way is forbidden, and God's gifts are to be shared, with the gleanings of harvest field, orchard, and vineyard regarded as the Lord's portion to relieve the necessities of the poor and the stranger. The requirement applies to transactions in councils and board meetings of God's institutions, forbidding all cheating, oppression, and unrighteous dealing and the use of position and great light to deal unfairly. God's eye reads every dishonest transaction, and trampling His precepts incurs certain punishment, especially for those who have betrayed great light. God will strike a blow to deliver His oppressed people and raise up humble men to do His will, while proud control that seeks prosperity by building on the ruins of truth, righteousness, justice, and purity stands condemned.
The command protests the greed of the natural heart and forbids hasting to be rich, speculation, and thirst for gain by unrighteous dealing. Such dealing is not innocent, and God records those who practice it as guilty of fraud and transgression. Instead the call is to trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God who gives richly all things to enjoy, being without covetousness and content with what is had. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life, since loving silver and abundance never satisfies, confidence in gold pierces with many sorrows, and gaining the whole world profits nothing if the soul is lost.