Topic
Nail
24 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 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 They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently.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.
- Judges 4:21Easton · ISBE · Nave Jael kills Sisera with
Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
- 1 Chronicles 22:3Easton · ISBE · Nave Made of iron
And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight;
- 2 Chronicles 3:9Easton · ISBE · Nave Made of gold
And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
- Isaiah 22:23Easton · ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
- Jeremiah 17:1Easton · Smith · ISBE
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
- Exodus 27:19Easton · Smith
All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.
- Exodus 38:20Easton · Smith
And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass.
- Deuteronomy 21:12Easton · ISBE
Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
- Ezra 9:8Easton · Nave FIGURATIVE
And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
- Ecclesiastes 12:11Easton · ISBE
The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
- Isaiah 41:7ISBE · Nave (Or, peg))
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
- Jeremiah 10:4ISBE · Nave (Or, peg))
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Show 12 more
- Zechariah 10:4 Easton · Nave FIGURATIVE
- John 20:25 Easton · ISBE
- Colossians 2:14 Easton · ISBE
- Exodus 35:18 Easton
- Leviticus 14:8 Easton
- Numbers 8:7 Easton
- Judges 4:22 Easton
- Isaiah 11:7 Smith
- Isaiah 22:25 Nave FIGURATIVE
- Isaiah 33:20 Smith
- Ezekiel 15:3 Easton
- Daniel 4:33 ISBE
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 18 references
For fastening. (1.) Hebrew yathed, “piercing,” a peg or nail of any material (Ezek. 15:3), more especially a tent-peg (Ex. 27:19; 35:18; 38:20), with one of which Jael (q.v.) pierced the temples of Sisera (Judg. 4:21, 22). This word is also used metaphorically (Zech. 10:4) for a prince or counsellor, just as “the battle-bow” represents a warrior.
(2.) Masmer, a “point,” the usual word for a nail. The words of the wise are compared to “nails fastened by the masters of assemblies” (Eccl. 12:11, A.V.). The Revised Version reads, “as nails well fastened are the words of the masters,” etc. Others (as Plumptre) read, “as nails fastened are the masters of assemblies” (comp. Isa. 22:23; Ezra 9:8). David prepared nails for the temple (1 Chr. 22:3; 2 Chr. 3:9). The nails by which our Lord was fixed to the cross are mentioned (John 20:25; Col. 2:14).
Nail of the finger (Heb. tsipporen, “scraping”). To “pare the nails” is in Deut. 21:12 (marg., “make,” or “dress,” or “suffer to grow”) one of the signs of purification, separation from former heathenism (comp. Lev. 14:8; Num. 8:7). In Jer. 17:1 this word is rendered “point.”
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 5 references
- Of finger. (a) A nail or claw of man or animal. (b) A point or style e.g. for writing; see (Jeremiah 17:1)
- (a) A nail, (Isaiah 11:7) a stake, (Isaiah 33:20) also a tent-peg. Tent-pegs were usually of wood and of large size; but some times, as was the case with those used to fasten the curtains of the tabernacle of metal. (Exodus 27:19; 38:20) (b) A nail, primarily a point. We are told that David prepared iron for the nails to be used in the temple; and as the holy of holies was plated with gold, the nails for fastening the plates were probably of gold.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 13 references
nal: (1) As denoting the finger-nail, the Hebrew word is tsipporen (De 21:12), the captive woman "shall shave her head, and pare her nails." The latter was probably intended to prevent her from marring her beauty by scratching her face, an act of self-mutilation oriental women are repeatedly reported to have committed in the agony of their grief. Aramaic Tephar (Da 4:33, "his nails like birds' claws"). (2) As pin or peg (for tents, or driven into the wall) the word is yathedh (in Jud 4:21 the Revised Version (British and American), "tent-pin"); in Isa 22:23, "a nail in a sure place" is a peg firmly driven into the wall on which something is to be hung (22:24); compare Ec 12:11, where the word is masmeroth, cognate with macmer below. (3) For nails of iron (1Ch 22:3) and gold (2Ch 3:9), and in Isa 41:7 and Jer 10:4, the word is macmer. (4) In the New Testament the word is helos, used of the nails in Christ's hands (Joh 20:25), and "to nail" in Col 2:14 ("nailing it to the cross") is proseloo.
In a figurative sense the word is used of the hard point of a stylus or engraving tool: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point (literally, "claw," "nail") of a diamond: it is graven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars" (Jer 17:1).
James Orr
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.