TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances. The Egyptians thought that Osiris weighed the actions of the dead in a literal balance. The Babylonians may have had the same notion, which would give a special appropriateness to the image here used.
And art found wanting - too light before God, the weigher of actions (1 Samuel 2:3; Psalms 62:9). Like spurious gold or silver (Jeremiah 6:30).