Deuteronomy 25:14

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Do not have differing dry measures in your house, a larger and a smaller.

Hebrew Names Version
You shall not have in your house diverse measures, a great and a small.

King James Version
Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small.

Lexham English Bible
There shall not be in your house for your use two kinds of measures.

English Standard Version
You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small.

New Century Version
Don't have two different sets of measures in your house, one large and one small.

New English Translation
You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one.

Amplified Bible
"You shall not have in your house inaccurate measures, a large and a small.

New American Standard Bible
"You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Neither shalt thou haue in thine house diuers measures, a great and a small:

Legacy Standard Bible
You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.

Complete Jewish Bible
You are not to have in your house two sets of measures, one big, the other small.

Darby Translation
Thou shalt not have in thy house divers ephahs, a great and a small.

Easy-to-Read Version
Don't keep measures in your house that are too large or too small.

George Lamsa Translation
You shall not have in your house different measures, a large and a small.

Literal Translation
You shall not have in your house an ephah and an ephah, a great and a small.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Nether shalt thou haue in thyne house dyuerse measures, a greate and a small.

American Standard Version
Thou shalt not have in thy house diverse measures, a great and a small.

Bible in Basic English
Or in your house different measures, a great and a small.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Neither shalt thou haue in thine house diuers measures, a great and a small.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thou shalt not have in thy house diverse measures, a great and a small.

King James Version (1611)
Thou shalt not haue in thine house diuers measures, a great, and a small.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small.

English Revised Version
Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small.

Berean Standard Bible
You shall not have two differing measures in your house, one large and one small.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
a grettere and a lesse, nether a buyschel more and lesse schal be in thin hows.

Young's Literal Translation
Thou hast not in thy house an ephah and an ephah, a great and a small.

Update Bible Version
You shall not have in your house diverse measures, a great and a small.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thou shalt not have in thy house divers measures, a great and a small:

World English Bible
You shall not have in your house diverse measures, a great and a small.

New King James Version
You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.

New Living Translation
and you must use full and honest measures.

New Life Bible
You must not have in your house different ways of showing how big or small something is.

New Revised Standard
You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, large and small.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thou shalt not have in thy house divers measures, - a great and a small.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less.

Revised Standard Version
You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.

Contextual Overview

¹³Don't carry around with you two weights, one heavy and the other light, and don't keep two measures at hand, one large and the other small. Use only one weight, a true and honest weight, and one measure, a true and honest measure, so that you will live a long time on the land that God , your God, is giving you. Dishonest weights and measures are an abomination to God , your God—all this corruption in business deals! ¹⁷Don't forget what Amalek did to you on the road after you left Egypt, how he attacked you when you were tired, barely able to put one foot in front of another, mercilessly cut off your stragglers, and had no regard for God. When God , your God, gives you rest from all the enemies that surround you in the inheritance-land God , your God, is giving you to possess, you are to wipe the name of Amalek from off the Earth. Don't forget!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

divers measures: Heb. an ephah and an ephah, Aiphah waaiphah; for this was the cost common measure among the Israelites, by which all the others were made and adjusted. They are not only forbidden to use divers weights and measures, one large or heavy to buy with, and another small and light to sell with, but they were not even allowed to keep such in the house. It is observable also, that these too common but dishonest actions are branded as "an abomination to the Lord," equally with idolatry, and other scandalous crimes. Deuteronomy 25:14

Cross-References

Isaiah 21:11
A Message concerning Edom: A voice calls to me from the Seir mountains in Edom, "Night watchman! How long till daybreak? How long will this night last?" The night watchman calls back, "Morning's coming, But for now it's still night. If you ask me again, I'll give the same answer."

Isaiah 21:16
The Master told me, "Hang on. Within one year—I'll sign a contract on it!—the arrogant brutality of Kedar, those hooligans of the desert, will be over, nothing much left of the Kedar toughs." The God of Israel says so.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thou shall not have in thine house divers, measures,.... Or, "an ephah and an ephah"; which was one sort of measure in use with the Jews, and held above a bushel; and is put for all others, which should be alike, and not

a great and a small; one to buy with, and another to sell by, as before observed; which would be to cheat both seller and buyer in their turns; see Amos 8:5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Honesty in trade, as a duty to our neighbor, is emphatically enforced once more (compare Leviticus 19:35-36). It is noteworthy that John the Baptist puts the like duties in the forefront of his preaching (compare Luke 3:12 ff); and that “the prophets” (compare Ezekiel 45:10-12; Amos 8:5; Micah 6:10-11) and “the Psalms” Proverbs 16:11; Proverbs 20:10, Proverbs 20:23, not less than “the Law,” especially insist on them.

Deuteronomy 25:13

Divers weights - i. e. stones of unequal weights, the lighter to sell with, the heavier to buy with. Stones were used by the Jews instead of brass or lead for their weights, as less liable to lose anything through rust or wear.

Deuteronomy 25:17-19

It was not after the spirit or mission of the Law to aim at overcoming inveterate opposition by love and by attempts at conversion (contrast Luke 9:55-56). The law taught God’s hatred of sin and of rebellion against Him by enjoining the extinction of the obstinate sinner. The Amalekites were a kindred people Genesis 36:15-16; and living as they did in the peninsula of Sinai, they could not but have well known the mighty acts God had done for His people in Egypt and the Red Sea; yet they manifested from the first a persistent hostility to Israel (compare Exodus 17:8, and note; Numbers 14:45). They provoked therefore the sentence here pronounced, which was executed at last by Saul (1 Samuel 15:3 ff).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 25:14. Divers measures — Literally, an ephah and an ephah; one large, to buy thy neighbour's wares, another small, to sell thy own by. So there were knaves in all ages, and among all nations. Exodus 16:16; Exodus 16:16, and Leviticus 19:35; Leviticus 19:35.