Hebrew word · H5408

נָתַח

nitach

to cut

To cut an animal into its joints or parts, to dismember. Its noun, nētaḥ (plural nətāḥîm), means 'a piece, a joint of meat.' The verb belongs to butchery and sacrifice. It does not mean to hack at random but to divide a carcass into its parts.

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to cut, cut up, cut in pieces, divide

1a) (Piel) to cut up, cut in pieces, divide by joints

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 1 Samuel 11:7

Range of meaning

To cut an animal into its joints or parts, to dismember. Its noun, nētaḥ (plural nətāḥîm), means 'a piece, a joint of meat.' The verb belongs to butchery and sacrifice. It does not mean to hack at random but to divide a carcass into its parts.

Against the English

KJV 'hewed them in pieces' and BSB/WEB 'cut them (in) pieces' are accurate. What English cannot carry is the word's associations: Hebrew readers had heard it at the altar and in one infamous story.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of priests jointing the burnt offering (Exod 29:17; Lev 1:6, 12; 8:20) and of Elijah's bull on Carmel (1 Kgs 18:23, 33). Most strikingly, Judges 19:29 and 20:6: the Levite 'took… and cut her into twelve pieces… and sent her into all the territory of Israel.' That is the same verbs in the same order with the same destination phrase as here. Outside Israel, the 8th-century BC Aramaic treaty of Sefire uses cutting up an animal as a picture of the curse on a treaty-breaker ('as this calf is cut in two, so may Mati'el be cut in two'). A letter from the archive of Mari (on the Euphrates, 18th century BC; ARM II 48) proposes beheading a prisoner and parading the head around the villages so that slow tribesmen will fear and assemble quickly for the king's muster.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 29:17 תְּנַתֵּ֖חַ you will cut in pieces

    Cut the ram into pieces, wash the entrails and legs, and place them with its head and other pieces.

Leviticus · 3

  1. Leviticus 1:6 וְנִתַּ֥ח and he will cut in pieces

    Next, he is to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.

  2. Leviticus 1:12 וְנִתַּ֤ח and he will cut in pieces

    He is to cut the animal into pieces, and the priest shall arrange them, including the head and fat, atop the burning wood that is on the altar.

  3. Leviticus 8:20 נִתַּ֖ח he cut in pieces

    He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces, and the fat.

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 19:29 וַֽיְנַתְּחֶ֙הָ֙ and he cut in pieces her

    When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.

  2. Judges 20:6 וָֽאֲנַתְּחֶ֔הָ and I cut in pieces her

    Then I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 11:7 וַֽיְנַתְּחֵ֗הוּ and he cut in pieces it

    He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent them by messengers throughout the land of Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not march behind Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the LORD fell upon the people, and they came out together as one man.

    Here: 'And he cut it into pieces.' The singular 'it' treats the yoked pair as one unit. This is the butcher's and priest's word for jointing an animal limb by limb, and it is the same verb used of the Levite cutting up his concubine in Judges 19:29.

1 Kings · 2

  1. 1 Kings 18:23 וִֽינַתְּחֻ֗הוּ and let them cut in pieces it

    Get two bulls for us. Let the prophets of Baal choose one bull for themselves, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood but not light the fire. And I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood but not light the fire.

  2. 1 Kings 18:33 וַיְנַתַּח֙ and he cut it in pieces

    Next, he arranged the wood, cut up the bull, placed it on the wood,

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