Old Testament
Deuteronomy 25:13-16
13 You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light.
14 You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small.
15 You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
16 For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to the LORD your God.
New Testament
Luke 6:27-31
27 “But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
29 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also.
30 Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again.
31 “As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them.
Deuteronomy comes down to the pocket and the purse. Do not keep two weights in your bag, one heavy and one light. Do not build a life on the sly advantage that no one can prove. A people can learn to call this ‘normal’; God calls it falsehood.
Jesus presses the command further than simple reciprocity. Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you. And then the sentence that lands like a plumb-line: as you wish others would do to you, do so to them. Fairness is not only for friends, and justice is not only for those we like.
Fairness in trade is therefore both personal and public. It is about the honesty of a shop till and the integrity of a contract; the steadiness of inspectors and the quiet courage of those who refuse to cut corners. It is also about the posture we take towards those we call competitors: refusing contempt, resisting the temptation to win by harm, refusing to celebrate cleverness that injures the weak.
Lord, keep our hands clean and our hearts gentle. Teach us to value what is straight more than what is expedient, and to pray for public life that protects the weak from being cheated by the strong.