מַפֵּץ

From the study of Jeremiah 51:20

Range of meaning

A smashing or shattering weapon: club, mace, war-hammer. The form names the thing by what it does ('that which shatters'). This exact form occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. Close relatives are Ezekiel 9:2, kəlî mappāṣô, 'his weapon for shattering', and Proverbs 25:18, mēp̄îṣ, a club, in the line 'a club, a sword, a sharp arrow is a man who bears false witness'.

Against the English

KJV and WEB have 'battle axe', BSB and NIV 'war club', ESV 'hammer'. 'Club', 'mace' or 'hammer' fits the root better than 'axe'. The weapon breaks things by blunt force. It does not cut.

How it drifted

'Battle axe' in the KJV (1611) was a reasonable guess at an unusual word. Later versions moved to 'club' or 'hammer' because the root nāp̄aṣ means to smash, and Jeremiah 50:23 calls Babylon 'the hammer (paṭṭîš) of the whole earth'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The mace was one of the most common weapons of the ancient Near East and also a royal symbol. In Mesopotamian art kings and gods carry it, and royal inscriptions speak of gods placing weapons in a king's hand to strike his enemies. In the Septuagint the consonants were apparently read as a verb, 'you scatter'.