אחד H3977
balances, scales for weighing
An Aramaic term for balances or scales, appearing in the dramatic scene of Daniel 5:27. The word is part of the divine judgment pronounced at Belshazzar's feast: 'You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.' The image of weighing emphasizes divine measurement and moral assessment. Cross-linguistic glosses consistently render this as balance or scales, preserving the metaphor of divine judgment.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Balances, weighing scales used metaphorically for divine judgment. Daniel 5:27 uses this as part of the interpretation of the writing on the wall, where God has weighed the Babylonian king and found him deficient. The multilingual evidence (balances, balanza, balance) maintains the image of precise measurement, underscoring that God's assessment is exact and inescapable. 1×
AR["فِي-الْمِيزَانِ"]·ben["তুলাদান্ডে"]·DE["[במאזניא]"]·EN["in-the-balances"]·FR["balance"]·heb["ב-מאזניים"]·HI["में-तराजू"]·ID["di-neraca"]·IT["[במאזניא]"]·jav["wonten-timbangan"]·KO["저울-에"]·PT["na-balança"]·RU["на-весах"]·ES["en-la-balanza"]·SW["katika-mizani"]·TR["terazilerde"]·urd["ترازو-میں"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
אחד (√ of following; v. BH אֶחָד).