kav · measuring line, rule

What it means

kav (קַו) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “measuring line, rule”.

A measuring line, the cord stretched to lay out or check a work (2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11; Zechariah 1:16). Hence, measure or rule (Isaiah 28:10).

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A stretched cord used to measure and mark out exactly.
2. Repeated syllables that sound like a small child's speech.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• 2 Kings×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Job×1
• Psalms×1
• Isaiah×12
• Jeremiah×1
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×1
• Zechariah×1

• 2 Kings 21:13

  I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

• 2 Chronicles 4:2

  He made the Sea of cast metal, ten cubits from its rim to its rim, round all around, and five cubits its height, and a line of thirty cubits went around it all around.

• Job 38:5

  Who set its measurements, if you know? Or who stretched over it a line?

• Psalms 19:4

  Through all the earth their line has gone out, and to the end of the world their words. For the sun he has set a tent in them,

• Isaiah 28:10

  For it is command upon command, command upon command, line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there.”

• Isaiah 28:13

  And the word of YHWH will be to them command upon command, command upon command, line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there, so that they will go and stumble backward, and be broken, and be snared, and be captured.

• Isaiah 28:17

  And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will carry away the refuge of lies, and the hiding place, waters will sweep it away.

• Isaiah 34:11

  And the pelican and the hedgehog will possess it, and the ibis and the raven will dwell in it; and he will stretch over it the line of formlessness and the stones of emptiness.

• Isaiah 34:17

  And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it for them with the line; forever they will possess it; from generation to generation they will dwell in it.

• Isaiah 44:13

  The craftsman of wood stretches out a line; he marks it out with a stylus; he makes it with planes, and with the compass he marks it out, and makes it like the figure of a man, like the beauty of a human being, to dwell in a house.

• Jeremiah 31:39

  And the measuring line will go out again in front of it over the hill of Gareb, and it will turn to Goah.

• Lamentations 2:8

  YHWH has planned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; he has stretched out the line; he has not drawn back his hand from swallowing up; and he has made rampart and wall mourn; together they languish.

• Ezekiel 47:3

  When the man went out eastward with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water to the ankles.

• Zechariah 1:16

  Therefore, thus says YHWH: I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house will be built in it, declares YHWH Tsevaot, and the line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.

And 6 more times.