mida · measure, size

What it means

mida (מִדָּה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “measure, size”.

Also a measured portion or a garment.

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. The size or measure of something.
2. A section of wall.
3. A piece of clothing, with its neck or border.
4. A payment in silver that a subject people gives the king.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Measure: the size of something and that with which it is measured. Hence the stature of a person and, in Nehemiah, a section of the wall. It is related to the verb מָדַד, ‘measure’ (H4058).

• The measures of a building Exodus 26:21 Kings 7:9Ezekiel 40:10
• The “measuring” reed or line Ezekiel 40:3Zechariah 2:1
• Just measures in trade Leviticus 19:35
• Men “of great size” Numbers 13:321 Chronicles 20:6
• “The measure of my days” Psalms 39:4

Historical and cultural background

Leviticus 19:35 forbids cheating in measuring: “in measure of length, in weight, or in measure of capacity”.

How we translate it

“Measure” 18 times, “measures” 9, “measurements” 3; “measuring” 9, above all in Ezekiel 40–42, where it goes with the reed or the line. For persons, “great size” or “great stature”, and in the repair of the wall in Nehemiah 3, “section” (7: “a second section”), because it is a measured piece of the wall. BDB also gives it the sense of ‘tribute’, and so it is rendered in Nehemiah 5:4 (“for the tribute of the king”); and also that of ‘garment’, hence “his garments” in Psalm 133:2.

How it is translated

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

• measure ×18
• measures ×9
• measuring ×9
• section ×7
• measurements ×3
• great stature ×2
• garments ×1
• great dimensions ×1
• great size ×1
• length ×1
• others ×3

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Exodus×4
• Leviticus×1
• Numbers×1
• Joshua×1
• 1 Kings×4
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Nehemiah×8
• Job×1
• Psalms×2
• Isaiah×1
• Jeremiah×2
• Ezekiel×25
• Zechariah×1

• Exodus 26:2

  The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; one measure for all the curtains.

• Exodus 26:8

  The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; one measure for the eleven curtains.

• Exodus 36:9

  The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width four cubits for each curtain; one measure for all the curtains.

• Exodus 36:15

  The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the width of each curtain; one measure for the eleven curtains.

• Leviticus 19:35

  You shall not do injustice in judgment, in measure of length, in weight, or in measure of capacity.

• Numbers 13:32

  And they spread a bad report of the land that they had explored among the sons of Israel, saying, “The land that we passed through to explore it is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are men of great size.

• Joshua 3:4

  But there shall be a distance between you and it of about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way by which you are to go, for you have not passed this way before.”

• 1 Kings 6:25

  And ten cubits was the second cherub; one measure and one form had the two cherubim.

• 1 Kings 7:9

  All these were of costly stones, by the measures of hewn stone, sawn with the saw inside and outside, from the foundation to the copings, and from outside to the great court.

• 1 Kings 7:11

  And above were costly stones by the measures of hewn stone, and cedar.

• 1 Kings 7:37

  Like this he made the ten bases: one casting, one measure, one form for all of them.

• 1 Chronicles 11:23

  And he struck the Egyptian man, a man of great stature, five cubits tall. In the hand of the Egyptian was a spear like a beam of weavers, and he went down to him with a staff, snatched the spear from the hand of the Egyptian, and killed him with his own spear.

• 1 Chronicles 20:6

  There was war again at Gath, and there was a man of great stature, and his fingers were six and six, twenty-four; and he too had been born to Rapha.

• 1 Chronicles 23:29

  and for the bread of the row, and for the fine flour for the grain offering, and for the unleavened wafers and for what is baked on the griddle and for what is well mixed, and for every measure of capacity and of length;

• 2 Chronicles 3:3

  These are the measures with which Solomon laid the foundations for building the house of Elohim: the length, in cubits of the old measure, was sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits.

• Nehemiah 3:11

  A second section Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired, and the Tower of the Ovens.

• Nehemiah 3:19

  And next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired a second section, opposite the ascent to the armory at the angle.

• Nehemiah 3:20

  After him Baruch the son of Zaccai zealously repaired a second section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

• Nehemiah 3:21

  After him Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired a second section, from the entrance of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib.

• Nehemiah 3:24

  After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired a second section, from the house of Azariah to the angle and to the corner.

• Nehemiah 3:27

  After him the Tekoites repaired a second section, from opposite the great tower that projects as far as the wall of the Ophel.

• Nehemiah 3:30

  After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired a second section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah repaired opposite his chamber.

• Nehemiah 5:4

  And there were those who were saying, “We have borrowed silver for the tribute of the king on our fields and our vineyards.

• Job 28:25

  When he made a weight for the wind, and regulated the waters by measure;

• Psalms 39:4

  “Make me know, YHWH, my end and the measure of my days, what it is; let me know how fleeting I am.

• Psalms 133:2

  It is like the good oil on the head, coming down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, that comes down over the collar of his garments;

• Isaiah 45:14

  Thus says YHWH: “The labor of Egypt and the gain of Cush and the Sabeans, men of stature, will pass over to you and will be yours; they will walk behind you; in chains they will pass over; and to you they will bow down, to you they will pray: ‘Only in you is El, and there is no other; there is no other Elohim.’”

• Jeremiah 22:14

  who says, “I will build for myself a house of great dimensions and spacious upper rooms, and cuts out for it its windows, paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.”

• 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.

• Ezekiel 40:3

  And he brought me there, and look, a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a linen cord in his hand and the measuring reed; and he was standing in the gate.

• 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 40:10

  And the guardrooms of the gate toward the east, three on this side and three on that side, one measure for the three of them, and one measure for the pilasters on this side and on that side.

• Ezekiel 40:21

  And its guardrooms, three on this side and three on that side, and its pilasters and its porticoes were according to the measure of the first gate; fifty cubits its length, and the width twenty-five cubits.

• Ezekiel 40:22

  And its windows and its porticoes and its palm trees were according to the measure of the gate that faced toward the east; and by seven steps they went up to it, and its porticoes were in front of them.

• 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 40:28

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

• Ezekiel 40:29

  And its guardrooms and its pilasters and its porticoes were according to these measures; and there were windows in it and in its porticoes all around; the length, fifty cubits, and the width, twenty-five cubits.

• Ezekiel 40:32

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

• Ezekiel 40:33

  And its guardrooms and its pilasters and its porticoes were according to these measures; and there were windows in it and in its porticoes all around; the length, fifty cubits, and the width, twenty-five cubits.

• Ezekiel 40:35

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

And 15 more times.