The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.
He hath stretched out a line. The Easterns used a measuring line not merely in building but in destroying edifices (2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11). Implying here the unsparing rigidness with which he would exact punishment. [Teth (T)]