H0594 H0594
A plumb line; a builder's tool for measuring vertical trueness, used figuratively for divine judgment.
A noun denoting a plumb line—the weighted cord a builder drops to check whether a wall stands true. All four occurrences cluster in Amos 7:7-8, the famous vision where God stands beside a wall built with a plumb line, holding a plumb line in his hand. The image is devastating: Israel will be measured against God's standard and found crooked. Cognates in Akkadian (anāku) and Syriac point to a connection with lead or tin, the metal that weights the cord. Spanish 'plomada' and German 'Senkblei' both preserve the lead-weight etymology.
Senses
1. sense 1 — A plumb line—a cord weighted with lead used to test vertical trueness in construction, employed metaphorically for God's standard of justice. In Amos 7:7-8, the term appears four times in rapid succession: God shows Amos a wall built by plumb line (חוֹמַת אֲנָךְ), then declares he is setting a plumb line in the midst of Israel. Spanish 'plomada' (from plomo, lead) and German 'Senkblei' (sinking-lead) both reflect the instrument's physical nature, underscoring the heavy, irreversible finality of divine measurement. 4×
AR["شَاقُولاً", "شَاقُولٌ", "مِنْ-شَاقُولٍ"]·ben["সাহুল", "সাহুলের"]·DE["Senkblei"]·EN["A-plumb-line", "a-plumb-line", "plumb-line"]·FR["[אנך]"]·heb["אנך"]·HI["साहुल", "साहुल-की", "साहुल।"]·IT["piombo"]·jav["ing-tengah", "lan-ing-astanipun", "lan-ngandika"]·KO["다림줄을", "다림줄의", "다림줄이라"]·PT["prumo"]·RU["отвес", "отвесной"]·ES["Una-plomada", "plomada", "una-plomada"]·SW["Timazi", "timazi"]·TR["çekil-ipi", "çekil-ipini", "çekil-ipinin"]·urd["ساہل", "ساہل-کی"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† אֲנָךְ n.[m.] plummet (cf. words in cogn. lang. for lead, tin, etym. dub., perhaps foreign; Arabic آنُكٌ (v. Frä153) Syriac ܐܰܢܟܳܐ Mand. אנכא, Assyrian anâku LyonSargontexte 92; v. LagArm. Stud. § 103 cf. Id.BN 175)—אֲנָ֑ךְ except once Am 7:8—plummet Am 7:7, 8(×2); חוֹמַת א׳, i.e. a vertical wall v 7.