Measuring Line

Biblical Texts

A measuring line is a cord used to measure length or area. The principal passages in which the term appears explicitly in the New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong) are the following:

• Zechariah 2:1-5: In a vision, the prophet Zechariah sees "a man with a measuring line in his hand" (Zechariah 2:1). The man goes to measure the breadth and length of Jerusalem. An angel announces that Jerusalem "shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein" and that the LORD will be "a wall of fire round about" her (Zechariah 2:4-5).
• Jeremiah 31:38-40: Jeremiah prophesies that on the day Jerusalem is rebuilt, "the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath" (Jeremiah 31:39). The scene depicts the fixing of new boundaries for the city.

In Ezekiel 40, the man who measures the temple holds "a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed" (Ezekiel 40:3). In chapter 47, the same man, with "the line in his hand" (Ezekiel 47:3), measures the water flowing out from the temple.

Background and Terminology

In ancient Israel, a line was a tool for laying out building sites and marking the boundaries of land. The Hebrew word most often used is qav (קַו), meaning "line" or "cord." As in Psalm 16:6, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places," the line can also denote an allotted portion. The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul) renders the term in Zechariah 2:1 with an older form, cheongnyangjul.

The measuring line differs from the plumb line, which has a weight attached to it to check vertical alignment. The two tools do, however, sometimes appear together in the same passage.

Significance Throughout Scripture

The act of stretching out a line carries two contrasting meanings:

• Restoration and rebuilding: In Zechariah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, measuring signifies that Jerusalem and the temple will be rebuilt after the Babylonian exile.
• Standard of judgment: In 2 Kings 21:13, God declares, "I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria." Lamentations 2:8 depicts a line being stretched out in order to destroy the city wall. Isaiah 28:17 expresses God's standard of judgment by likening justice and righteousness to the line and the plummet: "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet."

In the New Testament, Revelation takes up this symbolism. In 11:1-2, John is given "a reed like unto a rod" and measures the temple, the altar, and those who worship there. In 21:15-17, an angel measures the New Jerusalem with "a golden reed." Although a measuring reed is used instead of a line, these scenes are understood as continuing the Old Testament measuring visions.

Interpretation and Issues

• Fulfillment of Zechariah 2: Some interpreters read the passage as referring to the restoration of Jerusalem after the return from exile. Others, on the basis of 2:11 ("many nations shall be joined to the LORD"), see the unwalled Jerusalem as the church, into which even the Gentiles are gathered. Still others regard it as a restoration yet to be fulfilled.
• Ezekiel 40-48 and Revelation 11: Dispensationalism tends to read these passages as referring to a literal temple to be built in the future and to the millennial kingdom. Reformed interpreters often read them as symbols of God's protection of His people and of His presence.
• Distinguishing the text from added explanation: Whether the act of measuring signifies protection or judgment depends on the context. The measuring line and the plumb line are sometimes explained as the same thing, but in the biblical text the two tools serve different purposes.