Hebrew word · H2251

חָבַט

chovet

to beat

To beat with a stick or rod in order to knock produce loose: beating olives off the branches (Deuteronomy 24:20) or beating ears of grain to free the kernels (Judges 6:11; Ruth 2:17).

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to beat, beat out, beat off, thresh

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to beat out

1a2) to beat off

1b) (Niphal) to be beaten out

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 Isaiah 27:12

Range of meaning

To beat with a stick or rod in order to knock produce loose: beating olives off the branches (Deuteronomy 24:20) or beating ears of grain to free the kernels (Judges 6:11; Ruth 2:17). Isaiah 28:27 uses the related small-scale method: delicate crops like dill and cumin are "beaten out with a rod" because a heavy threshing-sledge would ruin them.

Against the English

BSB, WEB and NIV have "thresh" and NASB has "start His threshing"; ESV adds "the grain." KJV's "beat off" and YLT's "beat out" are closer to the actual action, which is hand-beating with a stick, not driving animals or a sledge over a threshing floor.

How it drifted

In the prophets, "threshing" often stands for violent judgment (Amos 1:3; Micah 4:13; Isaiah 41:15). That use involves heavy threshing-sledges (a different verb, דּוּשׁ). Modern English also hears "thresh" close to "thrash," to beat someone. Both push the reader toward punishment, but this verb is a gentler, harvesting word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ruth 2:17 puts the two key verbs of this verse side by side: Ruth "gleaned (לקט) in the field until evening, and beat out (חבט) what she had gleaned." Gideon "was beating out (חֹבֵט) wheat in the winepress" (Judges 6:11). In both, the method suits small quantities of precious grain. Iron Age farming studies (e.g. Borowski) describe stick-beating as the method for small amounts of grain and for olives.

From the study of Judges 6:11

Range of meaning

To beat or knock off, especially to beat grain or olives with a stick. Ruth 'beat out' her gleanings (Ruth 2:17); dill and cumin are 'beaten out' with a rod rather than crushed with a threshing sledge (Isa 28:27); olives are 'beaten' from the tree (Deut 24:20).

Against the English

KJV, BSB and NIV say 'threshing'. ESV, NASB and WEB say 'beating out'. 'Threshing' is not wrong, but it does not show that this was the small-scale, by-hand method used by gleaners and the poor. Ordinary wheat threshing used oxen or a sledge on an open floor (gōren).

Used elsewhere in the period

Agricultural studies of ancient Israel (Borowski; King & Stager) describe threshing floors on exposed high ground where the wind could carry off the chaff. Beating with a stick was used for small quantities or delicate crops.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 24:20 תַחְבֹּט֙ you will beat

    When you beat the olives from your trees, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 6:11 חֹבֵ֤ט [was] beating out

    Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

    Here: A participle, meaning action in progress: 'was beating'. The word means knocking grain loose with a stick, the way small amounts were hand-threshed, not the full-scale threshing done with oxen on an open floor.

Ruth · 1

  1. Ruth 2:17 וַתַּחְבֹּט֙ and she beat out

    So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. And when she beat out what she had gleaned, it was about an ephah of barley.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 27:12 יַחְבֹּ֧ט he will beat out

    In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one.

    Here: Beating grain or olives with a stick to get the produce free (Judges 6:11; Ruth 2:17; Deuteronomy 24:20). It is a farmer's careful harvesting work, not the crushing threshing-sledge, and its aim is to collect the crop.

  2. Isaiah 28:27 יֵחָ֥בֶט it is beaten out

    Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

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