Axe

Used in the Authorized Version of Deut. 19:5; 20:19; 1 Kings "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" Kings 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.)