MEASURING LINE

(qaw, qeweh): The usual meaning is simply line, rope or cord, in Isaiah 28:10, 13, but the line was used for measurement, as is evident from such passages as 1 Kings 7:23 Job 38:5 Jeremiah 31:39. Whether the line for measuring had a definite length or not we have no means of knowing. In Isaiah 44:13 it refers to the line used by the carpenter in marking the timber on which he is working, and in Zechariah 1:16 it refers to the builder's line.

Figuratively: It signifies destruction, or a portion of something marked off by line for destruction, as in 2 Kings 21:13; or for judgment, as in Isaiah 28:17.

H. Porter

MEASURING REED

(qeneh hamiddah; kalamos): Used in Ezekiel 40:5;; 42:16:00; 45:01:00; Revelation 11:1; Revelation 21:15, 16. The length of the reed is given as 6 cubits, each cubit being a cubit and a palm, i.e. the large cubit of 7 palms, or about 10 ft. See CUBIT. Originally it was an actual reed used for measurements of considerable length, but came at last to be used for a measure of definite length, as indicated by the reference in Ezekiel (compare "pole" in English measures).

REED, MEASURING

mezh'-ur-ing (qeneh ha-middah): In Ezekiel's vision of the temple a "man" (an angel) appears with a "measuring reed" to measure the dimensions of the temple (Ezekiel 40:3; 42:16). The reed is described as 6 cubits long, "of a cubit and a handbreadth each," i.e. the cubit used was a handbreadth longer than the common cubit (see CUBIT; WEIGHTS AND MEASURES; TEMPLE). In the Apocalypse this idea of a measuring reed reappears for measuring the temple (Revelation 11:1) and the holy city (Revelation 21:15, 16, "a golden reed"). The thought conveyed is exactitude in the dimensions of these edifices, symbolic of the symmetry and perfection of God's church.

James Orr