Lexicon :: Strong's H6957 - qāv

“I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl ​— ​wiping it and turning it upside down.

Then he made the cast metal basin,[fn] 15 feet from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was 7 ¹/₂ feet[fn] high and 45 feet[fn] in circumference.

Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?

Their message[fn] has gone out to the whole earth,

and their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun.

“Law after law, law after law,

line after line, line after line,

a little here, a little there.”[fn]

The word of the LORD will come to them:

“Law after law, law after law,

line after line, line after line,

a little here, a little there,”

so they go stumbling backward,

to be broken, trapped, and captured.

“And I will make justice the measuring line

and righteousness the mason’s level.”

Hail will sweep away the false refuge,

and water will flood your hiding place.

Eagle owls[fn] and herons[fn] will possess it,

and long-eared owls and ravens will dwell there.

The LORD will stretch out a measuring line

and a plumb line over her

for her destruction and chaos.

He has cast the lot for them;

his hand allotted their portion with a measuring line.

They will possess it forever;

they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

The woodworker stretches out a measuring line,

he outlines it with a stylus;

he shapes it with chisels

and outlines it with a compass.

He makes it according to a human form,

like a beautiful person,

to dwell in a temple.

“A measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn toward Goah.

The LORD determined to destroy

the wall of Daughter Zion.

He stretched out a measuring line

and did not restrain himself from destroying.

He made the ramparts and walls grieve;

together they waste away.

As the man went out east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a third of a mile[fn] and led me through the water. It came up to my ankles.

“Therefore, this is what the LORD says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; my house will be rebuilt within it ​— ​this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies ​— ​and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.