Hebrew word · H4621

מַעֲצָד

ma'atzad

axe

An edged cutting or shaping tool. Proposed meanings are axe, adze (a blade set across the handle, used for dressing wood), billhook, or carving knife. It occurs only twice (here and Isa 44:12).

Appears 2 times in 2 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 Jeremiah 10:3

Range of meaning

An edged cutting or shaping tool. Proposed meanings are axe, adze (a blade set across the handle, used for dressing wood), billhook, or carving knife. It occurs only twice (here and Isa 44:12).

Against the English

KJV/WEB/YLT/ESV 'axe'; BSB/NIV 'chisel'; NASB 'cutting tool'. Since the felling has already been mentioned ('one cut it'), most modern lexicons and translations take this as the shaping tool (adze or chisel) used in carving.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 44:12, in a parallel satire on idol-making, where the metalworker uses a ma'atsad. The Septuagint of Jer 10:3 does not render the word and has 'cast image' instead.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 44:12 מַֽעֲצָ֔ד a tool

    The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 10:3 בַּֽמַּעֲצָֽד׃ with <the> tool

    For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.

    Here: An edged tool for shaping. It is used only here and in Isaiah 44:12, so its exact form is uncertain. The verse ends on a tool: the god is finished by an edge of iron.

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