Bible Strands
2 Kings 21:13
I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord addresses Jerusalem and Judah immediately after announcing a calamity that will reverberate to all who hear it. He speaks to the nation following the reign of Manasseh, declaring imminent destruction for the city.
The words — קָו (kav) denotes the measuring line used for construction or judgment, and מִשׁקֹלֶת (mish.ko.let) refers to the leveling tool or plumb line. These terms establish the imagery of precise, architectural assessment applied to divine action.
The thread — The measuring line and plumb line imagery reappears in Amos 7:7, where God stands by a true wall with a plumb line. It recurs in Lamentations 2:8, which describes God stretching out a measuring line to destroy Zion's wall, and in Isaiah 34:11, where the Lord stretches out a line over desolation.
Why it lands — The text states that God will apply the same exacting judgment to Jerusalem as He did to Samaria and the house of Ahab, wiping the city clean like an overturned bowl. It demands recognition that covenant failure produces irreversible consequences and requires the reader to confront the certainty of divine assessment without seeking evasion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.
Cross-references
- Amos 7:7 This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand.
- Lamentations 2:8 The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away.
- Isaiah 34:11 The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction.
- 2 Kings 10:11 So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.
- Isaiah 10:22 Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
- Isaiah 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Ezekiel 23:31 Because you have followed the path of your sister, I will put her cup into your hand.’
- 1 Kings 14:10 Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone!
- 2 Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.