Proverbs 20:23
Diverse weights are an abomination before the Lord: a deceitful balance is not good.
Open Proverbs 20:23 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Abominatio est apud Dominum pondus et pondus ; statera dolosa non est bona.
- Septuagint (Swete) shown from Proverbs 20:17
- βδέλυγμα Κυρίῳ δισσὸν στάθμιον, καὶ ζυγὸς δόλιος οὐ καλὸν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- תּוֹעֲבַ֣ת יְ֭הוָה אֶ֣בֶן וָאָ֑בֶן וּמֹאזְנֵ֖י מִרְמָ֣ה לֹא טֽוֹב
The Fathers on this verse
St Athanasius Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.), Texts explained; Fourthly, Hebrews iii. 2. Introduction; the Regula Fidei counter to an Arian sense of the text; which is not supported by the word 'servant,' nor by 'made' which occurs in it; (how can the Judge be among the 'works' which 'God will bring into judgment?') nor by 'faithful;' and is confuted by the immediate context, which is about Priesthood; and by the foregoing passage, which explains the word 'faithful' as meaning trustworthy, as do 1 Pet. iv. fin. and other texts. On the whole made may safely be understood either of the divine generation or the human creation
4. As then, when we read this, we interpret it fairly, without accounting Solomon a servant because we hear him so called, but a son natural and genuine, so also, if, concerning the Saviour, who is confessed to be in truth the Son, and to be the Word by nature, the saints say, ‘Who was faithful to Him that made Him,’ or if He say of Himself, ‘The Lord created me,’ and, ‘I am Thy servant and the Son of Thine handmaid,’ and the like, let not any on this account deny that He is proper to the Father and from Him; but, as in the case of Solomon and David, let them have a right idea of the Father and the Son. …
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV, Chapter XXII. The answer on the way to keep control over abstinence
Theonas : If we weigh everything that we do, by a reasonable judgment of the mind, and on the purity of our heart always consult not the opinions of other people but our own conscience, that interval for refreshment is sure not to interfere with our proper strictness, if only, as was said, our pure mind impartially considers the right limits of indulgence and abstinence, and fairly checks excess in either, and with real discrimination discerns whether the weight of the delicacies is a burden upon our spirits, or whether too much austerity in abstaining weighs down the other side, i.e., that of the body, and either depresses or raises that side which it sees to be raised or weighed down. …