The simple contrivance of a lump of lead, a stone, or other weight attached to a string, for testing whether a building or other erection is perpendicular. It is used symbolically for the exactness with which judgement was brought upon Israel. Israel had been built up by God as a wall with a plumbline, and with a plumbline it should be destroyed. Amos 7:7,8 : cf. 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 28:17 . In Zechariah 4:10 , although it was a day of small things when the temple was rebuilt, the plummet was in the hands of Zerubbabel, and the Lord of hosts was supporting him.