Word study
Measure
8 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: measured, measure, measuring, measures. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “measure” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מָדַד mâdadmeasuretranslated this way 45 times of its 50 uses · Strong’s H4058Verb · Translated: measured 34, measure 5, Next he measured 3, apportion 2Full study and all 48 verses →
Exodus 16:18 When they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall. Each one gathered as much as he needed to eat.
Numbers 35:5 You are also to measure two thousand cubits outside the city on the east, two thousand on the south, two thousand on the west, and two thousand on the north, with the city in the center. These areas will serve as larger pasturelands for the cities.
- מִדָּה middâhmeasure, measurement, stature, size, garmenttranslated this way 8 times of its 51 uses · Strong’s H4060Noun · Translated: measurements 12, size 8, section 7, measuring 5Full study and all 50 verses →
Job 28:25 When God fixed the weight of the wind and measured out the waters,
Psalm 39:4 “Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.
- קַו qavlinetranslated this way 8 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H6957Noun · Translated: line 8, measuring line 7, powerful 2, circumference 1Full study and all 14 verses →
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.
Job 38:5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
- אֵיפָה êphâhephahtranslated this way 4 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H374Noun · Translated: ephah 27, basket 4, per ephah 3Full study and all 29 verses →
Deuteronomy 25:14 You shall not have two differing measures in your house, one large and one small.
Proverbs 20:10 Differing weights and unequal measures— both are detestable to the LORD.
- מַד madmeasuretranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H4055Noun · Translated: tunic 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Job 11:9 Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.
Jeremiah 13:25 This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.
- מְאֹד meôdmuchness, force, abundance, exceedinglytranslated this way 2 times of its 195 uses · Strong’s H3966Adverb · Translated: greatly 28, very 12, was very 8, exceedingly 8Full study and all 186 verses →
Isaiah 64:9 Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!
Isaiah 64:12 After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
- מְשׂוּרָה mesûrâhmeasuretranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H4884Noun · Translated: measure 2, volume 1, measurements of quantity 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Ezekiel 4:11 You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times.
Ezekiel 4:16 Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.
- עֶשֶׂר esertentranslated this way 2 times of its 168 uses · Strong’s H6235Number · Translated: ten 127, 10 000 15, weighing ten 12, tens 3Full study and all 149 verses →
1 Kings 7:23 He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.
2 Chronicles 4:2 He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μέτρον métrona measure, measuring rodtranslated this way 10 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s G3358Noun · Translated: measure 9, limit 1, field of influence 1, field 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Matthew 7:2 For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Mark 4:24 He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you.
- μετρέω metréōI measure, estimatetranslated this way 8 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G3354Verb · Translated: measured 4, measure 4, you 3Full study and all 9 verses →
Matthew 7:2 For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Mark 4:24 He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you.
- σάτον sátonnearly three English gallonstranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4568Noun · Translated: measures 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 13:33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”
Luke 13:21 It is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about measure: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.