Topic
Ax (Axe); Ax-Head
19 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Deuteronomy 19:5ISBE
As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities,…
- Deuteronomy 20:19ISBE
¶ When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s…
- Judges 9:48ISBE
And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said unto the people that were with him, What ye…
- 1 Samuel 13:20ISBE
But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.
- 1 Samuel 13:21ISBE
Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.
- 2 Samuel 12:31ISBE
And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the…
- 1 Kings 6:7ISBE
And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
- 2 Kings 6:5ISBE
But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.
- 1 Chronicles 20:2ISBE
And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David’s head: and he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city.
- Psalms 74:5ISBE
A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
- Psalms 74:6ISBE
But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
- Isaiah 10:15ISBE
Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.
Show 7 more
- Isaiah 44:12 ISBE
- Jeremiah 10:3 ISBE
- Jeremiah 46:22 ISBE
- Jeremiah 51:20 ISBE
- Ezekiel 26:9 ISBE
- Matthew 3:10 ISBE
- Luke 3:9 ISBE
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 20 references
aks; aks'hed: Nine different Hebrew words have been rendered "ax":
(1) garzen. This unquestionably was one of the larger chopping instruments, as the uses to which it was put would imply (De 19:5; 20:19; 1Ki 6:7; Isa 10:15). The modern ax used by the woodchoppers in Syria has a shape much like the ancient stone and bronze axes, with the exception that it is fastened to the handle by passing the latter through a hole in the ax-head, whereas the Egyptian sculptures show that their ax-heads were held to the handles by means of thongs. The so-called battle-ax found at Tell el-Chesy was probably fastened in this way. Syrian peasants are frequently seen carrying in their belts small hatchets the heads of which are shaped like a battle-ax and which are bound to the handles by thongs.
(2) ma`atsar, is used in Isa 44:12 (King James Version renders "tongs") and in Jer 10:3.
(3) qardom, is used in Jud 9:48; 1Sa 13:20,21; Ps 74:5; Jer 46:22. The present Arabic word, qudum, which is the name for the native adze, is from the same origin. The adze is the only chopping instrument of the Syrian carpenter. He uses it for many purposes, where a foreigner would use a saw or chisel or plane, and with a skill which the foreigner envies. Many students of Syrian life believe that the adze is a tool which has survived from the early Hebrew times.
(4) barzel (De 19:5; 2Ki 6:5): The interest associated with this word is that it literally means "iron," although the context indicates that it means "ax." If the word iron was not used here to mean "metal," then iron axes were used by the children of Israel. If iron axes existed, however, they have long since disappeared as the result of corrosion, since the only ones discovered have been of stone, copper or bronze. See METALS.
(5) maghzirah (2Sa 12:31) is literally, "a cutting instrument," and might be rendered, "a blade" or sickle.
(6) megherah (1Ch 20:2), translated in this one passage as axes, but better translated "saws."
(7) cherebh (Eze 26:9), rendered ax in this passage only. It is usually translated sword. It could also mean pick-axe.
(8) kashil (Ps 74:6 the King James Version), literally, "a feller," hence, an axe.
(9) mapets (Jer 51:20), literally, "a smiter," hence, a war club or battle-axe. The Greek word used in the New Testament is axine (Mt 3:10; Lu 3:9).
James A. Patch
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.