The Hebrew name is _Mozanaim_, _the Scales_, _weighing_. Its name in Arabic is _Al Zubena_, _purchase_, or _redemption_. In Coptic, it is _Lambadia_, _station of propitiation_ (from _Lam_, _graciousness_, and _badia_, _branch_). The name by which it has come down to us is the Latin, _Libra_, which means _weighing_, as used in the Vulgate (Isa. xl. 12). Libra contains three bright stars whose names supply us with the whole matter. The brightest, α (in the lower scale), is named _Zuben al Genubi_, which means _the purchase_, or _price which is deficient_. This points to the fact that man has been utterly ruined. He is “weighed in the balances and found wanting.” “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him; For the redemption of their soul is costly, And must be let alone for ever.” (Ps. xlix. 7, R.V.) “Surely men of low degree are vanity (Heb. _a breath_), And men of high degree are a lie; In the balances they go up; They are altogether lighter than vanity” (Heb. _a breath_). (Ps. lxii. 9, R.V.) This is the verdict pronounced and recorded by this star _Zuben al Genubi_. Is there then no hope? Is there no one who can pay the price? Yes; there is “the Seed of the woman.” He is not merely coming as a child, but He is coming as an atoning sacrifice. He is coming for the purpose of Redemption! He can pay _the price which covers_! Hence in the upper scale we have another bright star with this very name _Zuben al Chemali_—THE PRICE WHICH COVERS! Praised be God! “They sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy ... for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.” (Rev. v. 9.) This is the testimony of β, the second brightest star! It has another name, _al Gubi_, _heaped up_, or _high_, telling of the infinite value of this redemption price. But there is a third star, γ, below, towards _Centaurus_ and the _Victim_ slain, telling, by that and by its name, of the _conflict_ by which that redemption would be accomplished. It is called _Zuben Akrabi_ or _Zuben al Akrab_, which means _the price of the conflict_! There is, however, some reason to suppose that Libra is a very ancient Egyptian corruption, bringing in human merit instead of Divine righteousness; “the way of Cain” instead of the way of God. In the more ancient Akkadian the months were called after the names of the signs,(38) and the sign of the seventh month is the sign that we now call Libra. The Akkadian name for it was _Tulku_. _Tul_ means _mound_ (like _dhul_ and _dul_), and _ku_ means _sacred;_ hence, _Tulku_ means _the sacred mound_, or _the holy altar_.(39) Not only is the name and its meaning different, but the teaching is infinitely greater and more important, if we may believe that the original picture of this sign was not a pair of scales, but the representation of _a holy altar_. This would agree still better with the three constellations which follow.