מֵמַד

From the study of Job 38:5

Range of meaning

Measurement or dimension. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning comes from its family: the verb madad ("to measure") and the common noun middah ("measure, size"). The sense is secure, because the family is well known and the second half of the verse confirms it.

Against the English

"Measurements" (BSB) and NIV's "dimensions" are accurate. KJV's "measures" was accurate in 1611, but today it can sound like steps taken ("taking measures").

How it drifted

Only in the KJV-style wording, where everyday English "measures" now most often means actions or policies. The Hebrew word itself has no such sense.

Used elsewhere in the period

The related verb and noun are used of God's ordering of the world: Job 28:25 (the waters apportioned "by measure"), Isaiah 40:12 ("who has measured the waters"), Habakkuk 3:6 (God "measured the earth"). Outside Israel, the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish (Tablet IV) has the god Marduk measuring the structure of the deep before building his cosmic dwelling. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) renders it metra, "measures," and the Latin Vulgate mensuras.