ma.dad denotes determining dimensions, distances, or amounts, and can frame what is beyond measurement.

The prevailing use is the determination of physical dimensions and distances, especially in repeated measurements of gates, courts, buildings, and surrounding sides. The verb also occurs for measured quantities or apportioned lengths, while a few clauses use measurement to express vastness or an inability to measure.

1. Determining physical dimensions and distances · dominant

   The Qal forms repeatedly mark the taking of dimensions for structures and spaces: in Ezekiel 40:5 the APB renders the clause "he measured the width of the building, one branch, and the height, one branch," and in Ezekiel 42:16 it renders a measured eastern side of five hundred cubits. The same use includes distances between gates in Ezekiel 40:23 and successive thousand-cubit lengths beside the water in Ezekiel 47:3.

   Ezekiel 40:5Ezekiel 40:23Ezekiel 42:16Ezekiel 47:3Numbers 35:5Deuteronomy 21:2
2. Establishing a measured quantity or allotment · common

   In Exodus 16:18, the Qal sequential imperfect occurs when gathered food is checked "with an omer," with no surplus for the one who gathered much and no lack for the one who gathered little. In Ruth 3:15 it accompanies the giving of six measures of barley, while the paired Piel forms in 2 Samuel 8:2 concern cords used in determining who would be put to death and who preserved alive.

   Exodus 16:18Ruth 3:152 Samuel 8:2Isaiah 65:7
3. Measurement as a limit beyond reach · occasional

   In Jeremiah 31:37, the Niphal imperfect plural is used in the conditional statement that the heavens above could be measured; in Jeremiah 33:22, the Niphal imperfect says the sand of the sea cannot be measured. Isaiah 40:12 likewise places a Qal perfect in a series describing the measuring of waters, heavens, dust, mountains, and hills.

   Jeremiah 31:37Jeremiah 33:22Isaiah 40:12
4. Measuring oneself upon another · rare

   The Hithpolel sequential imperfect in 1 Kings 17:21 occurs in the action directed toward the youth; the APB renders that action, "he measured himself upon the youth three times," before the prayer for the youth's soul to return.

   1 Kings 17:21

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the cited clauses, the APB commonly uses "measured" for structural dimensions, distances, provisions, and barley, and it uses "cannot be measured" in the Jeremiah comparisons. Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, its wording cannot identify every individual contribution of the term.