Axe

Used in the Authorized Version of Deut 19:5; 20:19; 1 Kgs 6:7, as the translation of a Hebrew word which means “chopping.” It was used for felling trees (Isa 10:34) and hewing timber for building. It is the rendering of a different word in Judg 9:48, 1 Sam 13:20, 21, Ps 74:5, which refers to its sharpness. In 2 Kgs 6:5 it is the translation of a word used with reference to its being made of iron. In Isa 44:12 the Revised Version renders by “axe” the Hebrew maatsad, which means a “hewing” instrument. In the Authorized Version it is rendered “tongs.” It is also used in Jer 10:3, and rendered “axe.” The “battle-axe” (army of Medes and Persians) mentioned in Jer 51:20 was probably, as noted in the margin of the Revised Version, a “maul” or heavy mace. In Ps 74:6 the word so rendered means “feller.” (See the figurative expression in Matt 3:10; Luke 3:9.)