Ne statera dolosa inveniatur in regno tuo
The Abomination of Deceit
The author cites divine law and the wisdom of Solomon to condemn the use of dishonest weights and measures.
So forbid it, most just and upright king: let there be no deceitful scale in your kingdom. Listen to what the Lord forbids the people of Israel: You shall not keep different weights in your bag, a heavier and a lighter; nor shall there be in your house a larger measure and a smaller one. You shall have a just and true weight, and an equal and true measure shall be yours, so that you may live long on the land the Lord your God will give you.✦1 For the Lord your God abhors anyone who does these things.✦ Solomon also says: Differing weights are an abomination to the Lord; a deceitful scale is not good.2 He also says: A deceitful scale is an abomination to the Lord, and a fair weight is his will.✦
The Law of Love and Integrity
Fraudulent dealings are framed as a violation of the Great Commandment, proving that the dishonest person rejects both God and neighbor.
For it is truly a great wickedness to abandon the Lord's judgments for earthly gain. For it is hidden deceit and a devilish work—for the sake of earthly profit—fraudulently to change a just measure fixed by law, or to swap the weights God himself established, so as to cheat a brother.3 We hold to what was handed down by the Lord and faithfully confirmed by him: that the whole law and the prophets hang on the love of God and neighbor.✦ So anyone who cheats the innocent with a dishonest scale, or with short weights and measures, doesn't love their neighbor, whom they fraudulently trip up, nor do they love God, whose laws and commands they despise and trample underfoot.4 And in this he is convicted, because by disobeying he drives the law and the prophets far from himself—he who by disobeying does not keep the Lord's commands.
Read the original Latin
Prohibe ergo, justissime atque rectissime rex, ne statera dolosa sit in regno tuo. Audi quid Dominus populo Israel prohibet dicens: Non habebis in sacculo diversa pondera, majus et minus; nec erit in domo tud modius major et minor; pondus habebis justum et verum, et modius aequalis et verus erit tibi: ut multo tempore vivas super terram, quam Dominus Deus tuus dederit tibi. Abominatur enim Dominus Deus tuus eum qui facit haec. Salomon quoque ait: Abominatio est apud Dominum pondus et pondus: statera dolosa non est bona. Item ipse: Statera dolosa abominatio est apud Dominum, et pondus aequum voluntas ejus. Vere enim grandis est pravitas, propter terrena commoda Domini deserere judicia. Dolus enim occultus et diabolicum opas, pro terreno lucro justum et legaliter sancitum fraudulenter mutare modium, aut divinitus instituta commutare pondera in deceptione fraterna. A Domino enim traditum, ab illoque fideliter confirmatum tenemus, quia in dilectione Dei et proximi tota lex pendet et prophetae.
Ergo qui dolosa statera, aut minore modio pondereque dolose decipit innocentem, nec proximum diligit, quem fraudulenter sapplantat, nec Deum, cujus leges ac praecepta despiciens calcat. Et in hoc convincitur quia leges et prophetas a se inobediendo procul expellit, qui inobediendo praecepta Domini non custodit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Deut.25.13-Deut.25.15 — You shall not have in your bag two kinds of stone weights, a large one and a small one. Deut.25.14 — You shall not have in your house two differing measures, a large and a small. Deut.25.15 — A full and just stone-weight shall be yours, a full and just ephah shall be yours, so that your days may be long upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- ↩Deut.25.16 — For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD your God — all who act unjustly.
- ↩Prov.11.1 — A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.
- ↩Matt.22.40 — On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source reading 'domo tud' is almost certainly a corruption of 'domo tua' ('in your house'); translated on that intended sense.
- 2 ↩'pondus et pondus' is the Hebraic doubled idiom for unequal or double standards of weight; rendered 'differing weights' rather than a wooden 'weight and weight'.
- 3 ↩Source reading 'diabolicum opas' is almost certainly a corruption of 'diabolicum opus' ('devilish work'); translated on that intended sense.
- 4 ↩Latin has sapplantat; translated as the expected supplantat ('trips up / undermines').
Via Regia (The Royal Road) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit