madad · measure

What it means

madad (מָדַד) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “measure”.

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. To work out the size or extent of something with a cord, a reed or paces.
2. To stretch the whole body out over something, matching its length.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To measure: to take the measure of something, with a reed, a line or a container. Of the same family is מִדָּה, ‘measure’ (H4060). BDB also gives the sense of ‘stretch oneself out’, which is that of 1 Kings 17:21.

• The man with the reed measures the temple Ezekiel 40:5Ezekiel 42:16Zechariah 2:2
• Measuring the manna, the barley Exodus 16:18Ruth 3:15
• Who measured the waters? Isaiah 40:12Jeremiah 31:37
• Measuring with the line 2 Samuel 8:2Deuteronomy 21:2
• Elijah stretches himself out over the child 1 Kings 17:21

Historical and cultural background

If a slain man was found in the field, the elders measured the distance to the surrounding cities to know which one had to perform the rite of the heifer (Deuteronomy 21:2).

How we translate it

“He measured” 31 times and “measured” 10, almost all in the visions of Ezekiel 40-47. In Hosea 1:10 the passive is rendered “which cannot be measured”, and in 1 Kings 17:21, where Elijah stretches himself over the child, “He stretched himself out”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• he measured ×31
• measured ×10
• measure ×6
• you shall measure ×3
• He stretched himself out ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Exodus×1
• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×1
• Ruth×1
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×1
• Psalms×2
• Isaiah×2
• Jeremiah×2
• Ezekiel×36
• Hosea×1
• Zechariah×1

• Exodus 16:18

  But when they measured it with the omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little had no lack; each gathered according to what he could eat.

• Numbers 35:5

  And you shall measure outside the city the east side two thousand cubits, and the south side two thousand cubits, and the west side two thousand cubits, and the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the middle; this shall be for them the pasturelands of the cities.

• Deuteronomy 21:2

  then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure to the cities that are around the slain one.

• Ruth 3:15

  And he said, “Bring the shawl that is on you and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured six measures of barley and put it on her; then he went into the city.

• 2 Samuel 8:2

  He struck Moab and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive. And Moab became David’s servants, bearing tribute.

• 1 Kings 17:21

  He stretched himself out over the child three times, and cried out to YHWH and said, “YHWH my Elohim, please, let the soul of this child return into him.”

• Psalms 60:6

  Elohim has spoken in his holiness: “I will leap for joy, I will divide Shechem, and the valley of Succoth I will measure out.

• Psalms 108:7

  Elohim has spoken in his holiness: “I will exult, I will divide Shechem, and the valley of Succoth I will measure out.

• Isaiah 40:12

  Who has measured in the hollow of his hand the waters, and the heavens with the span gauged, and held in a measure the dust of the earth, and weighed with the scale the mountains and the hills with a balance?

• Isaiah 65:7

  your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, says YHWH, who burned incense on the mountains and on the hills taunted me; and I will measure their wages first into their bosom.”

• Jeremiah 31:37

  Thus says YHWH: “If the heavens can be measured above, and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then also I will reject all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares YHWH.

• Jeremiah 33:22

  As the army of the heavens cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levites who minister to me.”

• Ezekiel 40:5

  And look, a wall outside the house all around, and in the hand of the man the measuring reed of six cubits, each a cubit and a handbreadth; and he measured the width of the structure, one reed, and the height, one reed.

• Ezekiel 40:6

  And he came to the gate that faced toward the east, and went up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed wide, and the other threshold, one reed wide.

• Ezekiel 40:8

  And he measured the portico of the gate on the house side, one reed.

• Ezekiel 40:9

  And he measured the portico of the gate, eight cubits, and its pilasters, two cubits; and the portico of the gate was on the house side.

• Ezekiel 40:11

  And he measured the width of the entrance of the gate, ten cubits; the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.

• Ezekiel 40:13

  And he measured the gate from the roof of one guardroom to its roof, a width of twenty-five cubits, entrance opposite entrance.

• Ezekiel 40:19

  And he measured the width from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner court outside, a hundred cubits, on the east and the north.

• Ezekiel 40:20

  And the gate that faced toward the north, belonging to the outer court, he measured its length and its width.

• Ezekiel 40:23

  And there was a gate to the inner court opposite the gate to the north and to the east; and he measured from gate to gate, a hundred cubits.

• Ezekiel 40:24

  And he led me toward the south, and look, a gate toward the south; and he measured its pilasters and its porticoes according to these measures.

• Ezekiel 40:27

  And there was a gate to the inner court toward the south; and he measured from gate to gate toward the south, a hundred cubits.

• Ezekiel 40:28

  And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate, and he measured the south gate according to these measures.

• Ezekiel 40:32

  And he brought me into the inner court toward the east, and he measured the gate according to these measures.

• Ezekiel 40:35

  And he brought me to the north gate, and he measured according to these measures:

• Ezekiel 40:47

  And he measured the court, the length, a hundred cubits, and the width, a hundred cubits, square; and the altar was in front of the house.

• Ezekiel 40:48

  And he brought me to the portico of the house, and measured the pilaster of the portico, five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; and the width of the gate, three cubits on this side and three cubits on that side.

• Ezekiel 41:1

  And he brought me to the temple, and he measured the pilasters, six cubits wide on this side and six cubits wide on that side, the width of the tent.

• Ezekiel 41:2

  And the width of the entrance, ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance, five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; and he measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.

• Ezekiel 41:3

  And he went inside and measured the pilaster of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits.

• Ezekiel 41:4

  And he measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, in front of the temple; and he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

• Ezekiel 41:5

  And he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of the side chamber, four cubits, all around the house, around.

• Ezekiel 41:13

  And he measured the house, the length, a hundred cubits; and the separate area and the building and its walls, the length, a hundred cubits.

• Ezekiel 41:15

  And he measured the length of the building in front of the separate area that was at its back, and its terraces on this side and on that side, a hundred cubits; and the inner temple and the porticoes of the court;

• Ezekiel 42:15

  And he finished the measurements of the inner house, and he brought me out by the way of the gate that faced toward the east, and he measured it all around.

• Ezekiel 42:16

  He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed all around.

• Ezekiel 42:17

  He measured the north side, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed all around.

• Ezekiel 42:18

  The south side he measured, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

• Ezekiel 42:19

  He turned to the side of the sea, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

And 11 more times.