Line

lin (qaw, chebhel): Usually of a measuring line, as Jer 31:39; Ezek 47:3; Zech 1:16 (qaw); Ps 78:55; Amos 7:17; Zech 2:1 (chebhel). Other Hebrew words mean simply a cord or thread (Josh 2:18; Josh 2:21; 1 Kgs 7:15; Ezek 40:3). In Ps 19:4 (qaw, "Their line is gone out through all the earth"), the reference is probably still to measurement (the heaven as spanning and bounding the earth), though the Septuagint, followed by Rom 10:18, takes it as meaning a musical cord phthoggos). The "line," as measure, suggests rule of conduct (Isa 28:10). For "line" in Isa 44:13, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "pencil," margin "red ochre" (seredh), and in 2 Cor 10:16, "province," margin "limit" (kanon).

See also MEASURING LINE; WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

James Orr