Leviticus 19:36

Summary

Leviticus 19:36 commands the use of accurate measuring instruments — balances, weights, and volume measures — describing them all with the term tzedek ("righteousness", H6664G). The verse closes with a self-identification formula in which Yehovah names himself as the God who brought the addressees out of Egypt.

Key words

• Moznei ("balances of", H3976) — masculine dual construct noun, indicating a pair of scale-pans, grammatically bound to the following word.
• Tzedek ("righteousness", H6664G) — repeated four times (lines 2, 4, 6, 9), each time as the construct-linked qualifier of a measuring instrument, rather than a separate adjective of "honesty."
• 'Eifat ("an ephah of", H0374) — feminine singular construct, a dry-volume measure unit, structurally parallel to Hin.
• Hin ("a hin of", H1969) — masculine singular construct, a liquid-volume measure, joined to the previous items by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002).
• Hotzeti ("I brought out", H3318H) — Hiphil (causative) perfect, first person, expressing a completed causative action: "I caused [you] to go out."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structures four measuring terms — moznei ("balances of"), 'avnei ("weights of"), 'eifat ("an ephah of"), and hin ("a hin of") — each in construct state governing the same noun, tzedek ("righteousness"). This construct chain means the literal sense is "balances of righteousness," "weights of righteousness," and so forth, rather than "righteous balances" as an ordinary adjective-noun pair would read. The repetition of tzedek four times creates a rhythmic emphasis absent from translations that render it once as "honest" or "just" applied broadly to all four items.

The verb yihyeh ("it will belong", H1961), a Qal imperfect, is singular in Hebrew even though it governs the whole preceding list, and it is followed by lachem ("to you", built from H9005 + H9036), indicating possession or obligation directed at the addressees ("shall be yours" / "shall belong to you").

The closing clause begins with the independent pronoun 'ani ("I", H0589) followed by the divine name Yehovah (H3068G) and 'elohei-khem ("God of you[pl]", H0430G + suffix), a self-identification formula. The relative 'asher ("who", H0834A) introduces the Hiphil perfect hotzeti ("I brought out"), marking a completed causative act, with 'etkhem (object marker + "you", H0853+H9036) as its direct object, and me-'eretz Mitzrayim ("from the land of Egypt") specifying the point of origin.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the four Hebrew construct phrases with adjective-noun pairs (ζυγὰ δίκαια, στάθμια δίκαια, χοῦς δίκαιος), applying "just/righteous" as a modifier to each measuring term individually, rather than preserving the Hebrew's construct-chain repetition of tzedek. The Vulgate similarly uses adjectives (justa, æqua, justus, æquus) distributed across the four nouns, varying the Latin adjective form (justa/æqua) where the Hebrew repeats the identical noun tzedek each time.