Hebrew word · H2747
חֶ֫רֶט
bacheret
stylus
A pointed tool: a stylus for writing or engraving. Isaiah 8:1 has "write on it with an ordinary stylus (ḥereṭ ʾĕnôš)." Here it is probably a sculptor's or engraver's tool. A noun spelled with the same consonants, ḥārîṭ, means "bag" or "purse" (2 Kings 5:23; Isaiah 3:22).
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) an engraving tool, stylus, chisel, graving tool
1a) graving tool
1b) stylus
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
- Range of meaning
A pointed tool: a stylus for writing or engraving. Isaiah 8:1 has "write on it with an ordinary stylus (ḥereṭ ʾĕnôš)." Here it is probably a sculptor's or engraver's tool. A noun spelled with the same consonants, ḥārîṭ, means "bag" or "purse" (2 Kings 5:23; Isaiah 3:22).
- Against the English
BSB/ESV/NASB/KJV have "engraving/graving tool" and NIV "tool." NJPS and NRSV render it "mould" ("cast in a mould" / "formed it in a mould"), which assumes a meaning not attested anywhere else.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Septuagint translates graphis (stylus), and the Vulgate has the general opere fusorio, "by casting-work." Rashi (11th century) gives two readings: shaping with an engraving tool, or "he tied it up in a cloth or bag," taking the verb from ṣûr/ṣārar, "to bind," as in 2 Kings 5:23, where silver is "tied up in bags."
- Range of meaning
A pointed tool for engraving or incising. Its only other occurrence is Exodus 32:4, where Aaron 'fashioned it with a graving tool'. The usual word for a scribe's reed pen is ʿet (Jeremiah 8:8, Psalm 45:1). Ḥeret therefore points toward a stylus that scratches or cuts letters.
- Against the English
KJV and WEB 'pen' suggests ink on paper to a modern reader. 'Stylus' (BSB) or 'graving tool' (YLT) is closer.
- How it drifted
In KJV English, 'pen' was a general word for any writing instrument. Today it means an ink pen, which shifts the picture away from incised letters.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Exodus 32:4. A related noun, ḥarṭom ('magician, scribe-priest', an Egyptian loanword), is probably not related. In the ancient Near East, writing was incised on wax-covered boards, clay and stone, and written in ink on papyrus and potsherds. Either method is possible here.
Where it appears
Exodus · 1
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Exodus 32:4 בַּחֶ֔רֶט with <the> tool
He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
Here: "With the tool." Elsewhere the word is a writing stylus (Isaiah 8:1). Here it is probably a metalworker's tool for shaping or finishing the image. Some read it as "mould" or, revocalised, as "bag" (see debates).
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 8:1 בְּחֶ֣רֶט with a stylus of
Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
Here: 'With the stylus of'. Ḥeret is a pointed graving or incising tool. The only other place it appears is Exodus 32:4, where Aaron shapes the golden calf with it. That suggests letters cut or scratched into a surface rather than written with a reed pen and ink, though the evidence is thin.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.