Bible Strands
Hosea 12:7
A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Hosea addresses the northern kingdom of Israel during a period of covenant unfaithfulness, placing this indictment immediately after a command to return to God and right before Ephraim’s boast of untouchable wealth.
The words — The Hebrew כְּנַעַן (ke.Na‘an) literally means “Canaan,” functioning here as a metonym for a merchant, paired with מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה (mōzənê mir’māh), “scales of deceit.”
The thread — This rebuke of commercial fraud aligns with Proverbs 11:1 on God’s rejection of dishonest weights, Amos 8:5 on traders exploiting holy days for profit, and Micah 6:10 on the cursed short ephah.
Why it lands — The text records that economic exploitation is a deliberate preference (“loves to defraud”) that directly violates the justice and love commanded in the preceding verse.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 11:1 Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is His delight.
- Amos 8:5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
- Micah 6:10 Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?
- Leviticus 19:35 You must not use dishonest measures of length, weight, or volume.
- 1 Samuel 12:3 Here I am. Bear witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.”
- Proverbs 16:11 Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.
- Isaiah 3:5 The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable.
- Ezekiel 16:3 and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
- Ezekiel 22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.
- Amos 2:7 They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl and so profane My holy name.