What Does Leviticus 19:35 Mean in the King James?
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse makes the scales part of the courtroom: a false verdict and a false measure are both עָוֶל, injustice.
THE MEANING
Judgment and measurement belong to the same field of justice: a verdict can be false, and so can a ruler, a weight, or a measure. The verse names each as a place where injustice can be done to you or by you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that injustice happens only in a courtroom: a dishonest length or weight is also unrighteousness.
THE ROOT
עָוֶל
ʿāwel
GROWS FROM
עול
ʿ-w-l
to act unjustly or deal crookedly
The verse uses עָוֶל for what is forbidden across the whole list, binding verdicts and quantities under one name. Here unrighteousness includes the physical act of measuring someone short.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavlah: injustice, wrong
עַוְלָה
It names the same wrong as a condition, not just a single unfair act.
ʿavval: an unjust person
עַוָּל
The branch names the one who embodies the injustice that the verse locates in both judgment and measurement.
מִשְׁקָל
mishqal
GROWS FROM
שקל
sh-q-l
to weigh or weigh out
The word for weight and the shekel currency share שקל: value itself is pictured as something weighed. The balance is where fairness becomes material and countable.
ALSO GROWS
shaqal: to weigh
שָׁקַל
The verb shows the action behind the weight named in the verse.
sheqel: a weighed unit of value or currency
שֶׁקֶל
Its shared root links fair measurement to the valuation of what changes hands.
THE PATTERN
The standard applied to another is itself a judgment, and the measure returns to the one who uses it.
But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.THE THREAD
Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.The next verse names the instruments behind this command and joins just measure to being brought out of Egypt. Freedom and fair measure belong together: a crooked measure can recreate constriction in daily life, while a just one lets what is due arrive whole.
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