Hebrew word · H7134

קַרְדֹּם

kardumot

axe

A large axe for felling trees or heavy cutting, distinct from the lighter tools named in v. 6 (kaššîl, 'hatchet' or 'cleaver', and kêlappōṯ, 'picks' or 'hammers').

Appears 5 times in 5 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 Psalm 74:5

Range of meaning

A large axe for felling trees or heavy cutting, distinct from the lighter tools named in v. 6 (kaššîl, 'hatchet' or 'cleaver', and kêlappōṯ, 'picks' or 'hammers').

Against the English

'Axes' throughout. Nothing is lost in English except the word's weight, since it stands last in the Hebrew line.

Used elsewhere in the period

Judg 9:48 (Abimelech cuts brushwood with an axe); 1 Sam 13:20–21 (farm tools sharpened at the Philistine smiths); Jer 46:22, where invaders 'come against her with axes, like those who cut wood', the same simile of an army as woodcutters.

From the study of Jeremiah 46:22

Range of meaning

A large axe for felling or splitting wood. It was kept sharp by smiths alongside farm tools.

Against the English

All versions have 'axes'. What English misses is that this is a working tool, not a battle-axe.

Used elsewhere in the period

Abimelech cuts brushwood with one (Judg 9:48). The Israelites took theirs to Philistine smiths to be sharpened (1 Sam 13:20–21). In Ps 74:5 enemies hack at the sanctuary 'like those who raise axes in a thicket of trees'.

Where it appears

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 9:48 הַקַּרְדֻּמּ֜וֹת the axes

    he and all his men went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his axe in his hand and cut a branch from the trees, which he lifted to his shoulder, saying to his men, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 13:20 קַרְדֻּמּ֔וֹ axe his

    Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles.

  2. 1 Samuel 13:21 וּלְהַקַּרְדֻּמִּ֑ים and for the axes

    The charge was a pim for sharpening a plowshare or mattock, a third of a shekel for sharpening a pitchfork or an axe, and a third of a shekel for repointing an oxgoad.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 74:5 קַרְדֻּמּֽוֹת׃ axes

    like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees

    Here: Heavy felling axes used by woodcutters (Judg 9:48; Jer 46:22). Placed last for weight, it is the object of 'bringing up': the reader waits through the whole line to learn what is being raised, and it is axes.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 46:22 וּבְקַרְדֻּמּוֹת֙ and with axes

    Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent, for the enemy will advance in force; with axes they will come against her like woodsmen cutting down trees.

    Here: 'And with axes'. A heavy axe for felling trees, also used by farmers (1 Sam 13:20). The soldiers are pictured carrying tools for clearing woodland, not weapons.

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