Hebrew word · H4211

מַזְמֵרָה

lemazmerot

pruner

A pruning knife or vine-knife: a small, often hooked blade for cutting back vines. From zamar, 'to prune'.

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

What it means

pruning knife

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 2:4

Range of meaning

A pruning knife or vine-knife: a small, often hooked blade for cutting back vines. From zamar, 'to prune'.

Against the English

'Pruning hook' is fine. Some readers picture a long-handled garden tool; the ancient tool was a hand knife with a curved blade, made from a spearhead.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 18:5 (shoots cut off 'with pruning knives'); Joel 3:10 (4:10 in Hebrew); Micah 4:3. The verb zamar is used for pruning the vineyard, work forbidden in the sabbath year (Leviticus 25:3–4). The Septuagint renders it drepana, 'sickles, pruning knives'.

From the study of Micah 4:3

Range of meaning

A pruning knife, a small hooked blade for cutting back grapevines. It comes from zamar, 'to prune', used in Leviticus 25:3–4 for pruning a vineyard, which was forbidden in the sabbath year.

Against the English

'Pruning hook' (all versions) is accurate. The point the English misses is that this is specifically a vineyard tool.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 2:4; 18:5 (pruning vine shoots); Joel 3:10. The LXX here has drepana, 'sickles' or curved blades.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 2:4 לְמַזְמֵר֔וֹת <into> pruning knives

    Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war.

    Here: A small curved knife for trimming vines, from zamar, 'to prune' (Leviticus 25:3–4). A spearhead gets reworked into a vineyard tool, and battlefield turns into orchard.

  2. Isaiah 18:5 בַּמַּזְמֵר֔וֹת with <the> pruning knives

    For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife and remove and discard the branches.

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 3:10 וּמַזְמְרֹֽתֵיכֶ֖ם and pruning knives your

    Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’

Micah · 1

  1. Micah 4:3 לְמַזְמֵר֔וֹת into pruning knives

    Then He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for strong nations far and wide. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor will they train anymore for war.

    Here: A small curved knife for pruning grapevines, from the verb 'to prune' (zamar). It points straight ahead to verse 4's 'each under his vine'.

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