Hebrew word · H7112

קָצַץ

kitzatz

to cut

To cut off, sever, cut down or trim: hands or thumbs (Deut 25:12; Judg 1:6–7), metal fittings stripped off (2 Kgs 16:17; 18:16). In this passive form, 'clipped' or 'trimmed'.

Appears 14 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to cut off

1a) (Qal) to cut off

1b) (Piel) to cut or hew off, cut in two, cut in pieces

1c) (Pual) to be cut or hewn off

Aramaic equivalent: qe.tsats (קְצַץ "to cut" H7113)

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 9:26

Range of meaning

To cut off, sever, cut down or trim: hands or thumbs (Deut 25:12; Judg 1:6–7), metal fittings stripped off (2 Kgs 16:17; 18:16). In this passive form, 'clipped' or 'trimmed'.

Against the English

KJV's 'in the utmost corners' drops the verb's meaning of cutting almost entirely. Modern versions keep it ('clip', 'cut').

Used elsewhere in the period

The passive participle with peʾah occurs only in Jeremiah (9:26; 25:23; 49:32), a fixed label of his for desert tribes.

From the study of 2 Kings 24:13

Range of meaning

Basic meaning: 'cut off, cut'. The simple form is used for cutting off hands or thumbs (Deut 25:12; Judg 1:6). The intensive form, used here, means 'cut to pieces, cut apart, strip off'. In Kings it describes Ahaz cutting the frames off the bronze stands (2 Kgs 16:17) and Hezekiah stripping off the gold he had plated onto the temple doors and doorposts to pay Assyria (2 Kgs 18:16).

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT, BSB and most modern versions say 'cut in pieces' or 'cut up', which suggests the objects were destroyed. Some Jewish translations (e.g. NJPS) instead render it 'stripped off', taking the objects to be gold-plated furnishings whose gold covering was removed. Both are possible meanings of the word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Its use elsewhere in Kings for stripping temple fittings (2 Kgs 16:17; 18:16) is the closest parallel. The Greek Septuagint uses a verb meaning 'broke up / cut up'. Assyrian and Babylonian records often describe precious items being broken up for their metal or carried off whole as trophies.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 39:3 וְקִצֵּ֣ץ and he cut [them] up

    They hammered out thin sheets of gold and cut threads from them to interweave with the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen—the work of a skilled craftsman.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 25:12 וְקַצֹּתָ֖ה and you will cut off

    you are to cut off her hand. You must show her no pity.

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 1:6 וַֽיְקַצְּצ֔וּ and they cut off

    As Adoni-bezek fled, they pursued him, seized him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

  2. Judges 1:7 מְקֻצָּצִ֗ים cut off

    Then Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done to them, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.

    Here: A passive participle meaning 'chopped off'. Its masculine plural form matches 'kings', not the feminine 'thumbs': the kings are described as 'cut off as to their thumbs and toes', mutilated men. It repeats the verb used of what Judah did to him in v. 6, which sets up the payback.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 4:12 וַֽיְקַצְּצ֤וּ and they cut off

    So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

2 Kings · 3

  1. 2 Kings 16:17 וַיְקַצֵּץ֩ and he cut off

    King Ahaz also cut off the frames of the movable stands and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base.

  2. 2 Kings 18:16 קִצַּ֨ץ he cut off

    At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold with which he had plated the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and he gave it to the king of Assyria.

  3. 2 Kings 24:13 וַיְקַצֵּ֞ץ and he cut up

    As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off all the treasures from the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD.

    Here: An intensive form of 'cut'. Kings uses the same form when Ahaz 'cut off' the panels of the bronze stands (2 Kgs 16:17) and when Hezekiah 'stripped' the gold from the temple doors (18:16). So it can mean hacking objects into pieces or stripping off their gold covering.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 28:24 וַיְקַצֵּץ֙ and he cut up

    Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and set up altars of his own on every street corner in Jerusalem.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 46:9 וְקִצֵּ֣ץ and he cuts in two

    He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire.

    Here: "And he hacks apart". The intensive form means chopping the spear-shaft to bits, not a clean single cut. It sounds like qĕṣēh, "end", earlier in the verse.

  2. Psalm 129:4 קִ֝צֵּ֗ץ he has cut off

    The LORD is righteous; He has cut me from the cords of the wicked.

Jeremiah · 3

  1. Jeremiah 9:26 קְצוּצֵ֣י [those who] are cut off of

    Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair of their temples. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

    Here: A passive form, 'those who have been clipped'. It describes people by the way their hair is cut, a visible sign of which group they belong to.

  2. Jeremiah 25:23 קְצוּצֵ֥י [those who] are cut off of

    Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair;

  3. Jeremiah 49:32 קְצוּצֵ֣י [those who] are cut off of

    Their camels will become plunder, and their large herds will be spoil. I will scatter to the wind in every direction those who shave their temples; I will bring calamity on them from all sides,” declares the LORD.

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