Greek word · G4249

πρίζω

prizō

to saw (in two)

To saw, cut with a saw. The passive means to be sawn, here as a method of execution. The noun πρίων means 'a saw'.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

πρίζω = πρίω,

[in LXX: Amos 1:3, Da TH Su 1:59 * ;]

to saw, saw asunder (= π. δίχα, Thuc., iv, 100): pass, Hebrews 11:37 (cf. δια-πρίω).†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Hebrews 11:37

Range of meaning

To saw, cut with a saw. The passive means to be sawn, here as a method of execution. The noun πρίων means 'a saw'.

Against the English

English versions agree ('sawn asunder', 'sawed in two', 'sawn in two'). 'In two' or 'asunder' is implied by the context and the tradition behind it, not spelled out by the verb.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Old Testament uses the verb for atrocity: Amos 1:3 says Damascus 'sawed with iron saws' the pregnant women of Gilead, and 1 Chronicles 20:3 tells of captives put to saws. In Susanna 59 (the version attributed to Theodotion), Daniel tells an elder that the angel stands ready 'to saw you in two', a pun on the tree he named. Above all, Jewish and early Christian tradition said Isaiah was sawn in two with a wooden saw under Manasseh: the Martyrdom of Isaiah (in the Ascension of Isaiah 5:1–14), the Lives of the Prophets 1:1, the Talmud (b. Yevamot 49b; y. Sanhedrin 10:2), and Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 120.

Where it appears

Hebrews · 1

  1. Hebrews 11:37 ἐπρίσθησαν, they were sawed in two

    They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.

    Here: 'They were sawn' in two. The word is used only here in the New Testament. Jewish tradition remembered this as Isaiah's death under King Manasseh.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.