A measuring device for a paving machine comprises a height sensor and a pivot module mounted to be pivotable on the height sensor about a pivot axis and having a feeling device with at least two feeler levers for feeling a cable stretched along a paving section of the paving machine as a height reference. The at least two feeler levers are configured such that one of the at least two feeler levers is in a first orientation, in which it is positioned resting on the cable, at least always when the another of the at least two feeler levers is pressed, by way of a support that is used to tension the cable, to a second orientation in which it is spaced from the cable.