Hebrew word · H1631

גַּרְזֶן

garzen

axe

Axe or hatchet, used for felling trees (Deuteronomy 19:5; 20:19) and in Isaiah 10:15 ("shall the axe boast…"). In stonework it would be a pick or axe for dressing stone.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

axe

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 1 Kings 6:7

Range of meaning

Axe or hatchet, used for felling trees (Deuteronomy 19:5; 20:19) and in Isaiah 10:15 ("shall the axe boast…"). In stonework it would be a pick or axe for dressing stone.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT say "axe." BSB says "chisel," which fits stonework better but is not what the word means.

Used elsewhere in the period

Four other occurrences, all with the axe sense (Deuteronomy 19:5; 20:19; Isaiah 10:15; 1 Kings 6:7).

From the study of Isaiah 10:15

Range of meaning

Garzen is a heavy axe for felling trees or dressing stone (Deut 19:5; 20:19; 1 Kgs 6:7). Maśśôr is a saw, and this is its only occurrence. The verb nāśar 'to saw' is known from later Hebrew and Aramaic.

Against the English

'Axe' and 'saw' are accurate. What English readers miss is the forestry setting these tools would have called up.

Used elsewhere in the period

Assyrian kings boasted of felling the forests of Lebanon and the Amanus. Isaiah 37:24 puts it in Sennacherib's mouth: 'I cut down its tallest cedars.' Isaiah 10:18–19 and 33–34 then turn the forest image on Assyria: the LORD 'lops the boughs' and 'cuts down the thickets of the forest with iron.'

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 19:5 בַגַּרְזֶן֙ by the axe

    If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

    Here: "With the axe": a woodcutter's axe, an iron head fixed onto a wooden handle.

  2. Deuteronomy 20:19 גַּרְזֶ֔ן an axe

    When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?

    Here: A woodcutter's axe, by this period usually iron-headed (cf. Deut 19:5; 1 Kgs 6:7). It is an everyday tool, which makes the picture concrete: a soldier hacking at an orchard.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 6:7 וְהַגַּרְזֶן֙ and <the> axe

    The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

    Here: An axe or axe-like cutting tool, used elsewhere for felling trees (Deuteronomy 19:5; 20:19). In stonework it would be a pick or dressing axe. It is not strictly a chisel.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 10:15 הַגַּרְזֶ֔ן the axe

    Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!

    Here: A woodcutter's axe with a metal head, used for felling trees and dressing timber (Deut 19:5; 20:19). It points to Assyria, the empire that 'cut down' nations as a forester cuts down trees.

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