Hebrew word · H3597
כֵּילַפּוֹת
vekheilapot
axe
A heavy tool for breaking or chopping: an axe, pick or crowbar. It occurs only here. Lexicons (HALOT) link it to Akkadian kalappu / kalabbu, an axe or pick, and to an Aramaic cognate. It may be a borrowed word.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
large axes, 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
- Range of meaning
A heavy tool for breaking or chopping: an axe, pick or crowbar. It occurs only here. Lexicons (HALOT) link it to Akkadian kalappu / kalabbu, an axe or pick, and to an Aramaic cognate. It may be a borrowed word.
- Against the English
KJV/WEB 'hammers', BSB 'picks', ESV 'hammers', the source data 'crowbars'. 'Hammers' probably comes from the following verb ('to hammer') more than from the noun. The comparison with Akkadian points to a bladed or pointed tool, an axe or pick.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Akkadian kalappu is attested as the name of a metal axe or pick, which supports a demolition or chopping tool. The Septuagint has laxeutērion, a stonecutter's or mason's tool.
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 74:6 וְ֝כֵֽילַפֹּ֗ת and crowbars
and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
Here: 'And picks': another heavy tool that occurs only here, related to an Akkadian word for an axe or pick. Coming next to the axe, it pictures soldiers with whatever demolition tools they had, chopping and prying at the woodwork.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.