PLUMB LINE. Three Heb. terms in the Bible are tr. by this word. (1) אֲנָכְ, H643, a plumb line, from words in cognate languages meaning “lead” or “tin.” It occurs in Amos 7:7, 8. In this passage, the plumb line is used to measure a wall in the prophet’s vision. The lesson taught Amos that Israel must be measured by the plumb line so her iniquity and inequality could be exposed. (2) מִשְׁקֶ֫לֶת, H5487; a leveling instrument or level for horizontal accuracy from שָׁקַל, H9202, meaning “to weigh.” This word occurs in 2 Kings 21:13 where, together with a line, it is used to symbolize the judgment of God against the people of Jerusalem just as it was used against Samaria and the house of Ahab. Isaiah spoke of justice as the line and righteousness as the plummet in God’s judgment against Jerusalem (Isa 28:17). (3) אֶ֧בֶן בְּדִ֛יל, a stone of tin, referring to the kind of stone used in the plumb line. The term is found in Zechariah 4:10 and refers to God’s eyes that run to and fro in the earth.

In addition, RSV translates אֶ֫בֶן, H74, “plummets of chaos” in Isaiah 34:11. KJV has “stones of emptiness.”

In each text where the term is used it refers to an ordinary tool of the day in a symbolic sense, and is likened to the justice of God in judgment that is true and accurate. (See also Tools.)