Lexical Summary
qav: Line, measuring line, cord
Original Word:קַו
Part of Speech:Noun Masculine
Transliteration:qav
Pronunciation:kav
Phonetic Spelling:(kav)
KJV: line
Word Origin:[fromH6960 (קָוָה - To wait)]
1. a cord (as connecting), especially for measuring
2. (figuratively) a rule
3. (also) a rim, a musical string or accord
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
line
Or qav {kawv}; fromqavah (compareqaveh); a cord (as connecting), especially for measuring; figuratively, a rule; also a rim, a musical string or accord -- line. Compareqav-qav.
see HEBREWqavah
see HEBREWqaveh
see HEBREWqav-qav
Brown-Driver-Briggs
I. only in
Isaiah 28:10 (twice in verse);
Isaiah 28:13 (twice in verse), mimicry of Isaiah's words, perhaps senseless, see p. 846.
II. see .
II.Zechariah 1:16 (compare Köii. l. 40 Anm. 2); — absoluteEzekiel 47:3 +Zechariah 1:16 Qr (Kt ),Isaiah 34:17 +; construct2 Kings 21:13 +; — measuring-line (Jeremiah 31:39):1 Kings 7:23 (Qr; Kt , see below) = 2 Chronicles 4:2;Ezekiel 47:3; for marking off a possession inlandIsaiah 34:17 (figurative); especially in building,Job 38:5 (figurative of earth),Zechariah 1:16 (; "" ), soJeremiah 31:39 (Qr; Kt ); of designing idolIsaiah 44:13; marking off for destruction,2 Kings 21:13;Isaiah 34:11 (),Lamentations 2:8; soIsaiah 28:27. —Psalm 19:5 (AVtheir line. figurative of their domain) read probablytheir sound, Capp. 0l Che and now most.Isaiah 18:2,7 see -below;Isaiah 28:10,13 see I. .
Kt = II. Qr; absolute ( or )Zechariah 1:16; construct ( or )1 Kings 7:23;Jeremiah 31:39.
Topical Lexicon
Measuring Line and Standard of JudgmentThe earliest biblical glimpses of קַו show it as the surveying cord by which the Lord establishes or dismantles a city. In2 Kings 21:13 the Almighty warns that He will “stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria,” announcing impartial judgment.Lamentations 2:8 echoes the same picture: “The LORD determined to destroy the wall of Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not restrain Himself from destroying.” The line therefore embodies God’s unerring standard; when His people abandon covenant faithfulness, the measuring cord that once defined their borders becomes the instrument that levels them.
Architectural and Artistic Tool
When Solomon’s craftsmen cast the great bronze Sea, they determined its circumference with a קַו (2 Chronicles 4:2). Isaiah portrays a woodworker who “measures with a line” before fashioning an idol (Isaiah 44:13). In human hands the cord brings precision and beauty; in divine hands it supplies the prototype for all skilled labor (cf.Exodus 31:3-5). Because the world itself was laid out by the same cosmic line (Job 38:5), every act of craftsmanship echoes God’s original creative order.
Revelation and Creation
Job 38:5 asks, “Who fixed its measurements? … who stretched a measuring line across it?” The cord here marks the unseen blueprint of the universe.Psalm 19:4 transfers the image to speech: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” The Word that framed the heavens now spans the globe in witness. Thus קַו becomes a metaphor for the outreach of general revelation—God’s self-disclosure stitched across the sky as plainly as a taut string between stakes.
Instruction: ‘Line on Line’
InIsaiah 28 the prophetic refrain “order on order, line on line” (28:10 & 13) rebukes Ephraim’s priests who mock Isaiah’s plain teaching. What they dismiss as childish repetition is actually the divinely appointed pedagogy—steady, incremental truth. When they refuse it, the very principle designed to mature them becomes the mechanism of stumbling (“so that they will go and stumble backward,” 28:13). For ministry today the passage validates systematic, cumulative instruction: doctrine must be built cord-length by cord-length until the whole counsel of God is erected.
Boundary, Inheritance, and Desolation
In the oracles against Edom, the Lord “will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos” (Isaiah 34:11) and “allots her portion by lot … with the measuring line” (34:17). The same tool that once parceled Canaan for Israel (Joshua 17:5-14 uses a cognate idea) now demarcates perpetual desolation for the nations that resist Him. Judgment does not erase boundaries; it redraws them. Ultimately, every people receives a domain calibrated by divine righteousness.
Hope within Judgment
The vision of Ezekiel’s river begins when “the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand” (Ezekiel 47:3). Though Judah had experienced the cord of demolition, the same instrument now charts depths of life-giving water that will heal the land. The measuring line thus frames new-covenant hope: God measures loss only to measure restoration, ensuring that grace comes with no less precision than wrath.
Ministry Significance
1. The cord summons teachers to accuracy; doctrine must be measured, not guessed.
2. It calls believers to submit to divine evaluation, for the Lord’s line never sags or swerves.
3. It offers comfort: the God who carefully drew earth’s foundations is equally meticulous in drafting His people’s future.
4. It warns that contempt for incremental truth invites progressive hardening—line on line until hearts become as plumb as the judgment they tried to evade.
From Genesis to the New Jerusalem, קַו reminds readers that the Author of Scripture and history writes straight lines—and all humanity must align with them.
Forms and Transliterations
בַּקָּ֑ו בקו וְקָ֣ו וְקָו֙ וקו לְקָ֔ו לָקָ֑ו לָקָ֔ו לָקָ֖ו לָקָו֙ לקו קַ֣ו קַ֤ו קַ֥ו קַֽו־ קַוָּ֗ם קָ֔ו קָ֣ו קָּֽו׃ קָו֒ קו קו־ קו׃ קום bakKav baq·qāw baqqāw kav kavVam lā·qāw laKav lāqāw lə·qāw leKav ləqāw qaw qāw qaw- qaw·wām qawwām veKav wə·qāw wəqāw
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