Modern Meaning
What Does “Weighed in the balance” Mean?
Judged and found lacking.
Biblical Origin
Where Does This Phrase Come From?
Part of the mysterious writing on the wall, "TEKEL" meant that King Belshazzar had been weighed on God's scales and found wanting. The image of divine judgment as weighing on a balance became the English idiom for being judged against a standard and failing.
The phrase appears in Daniel 5:27 in the King James Version of the Bible, first published in 1611.
Usage Today
How Is It Used Today?
Being evaluated and found inadequate. "The proposal was weighed in the balance and found wanting."
The KJV Verse
Daniel 5:27
“TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.”
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