EASTON’S BIBLE DICTIONARY (1897 EDITION)
Axe – used in the Authorized Version of Deut. 19:5; 20:19; 1 Kings 6:7, as the translation of a Hebrew word which means “chopping.”
It was used for felling trees (Isa. 10:34) and hewing timber for building.
It is the rendering of a different word in Judg. 9:48, 1 Sam. 13:20, 21, Ps. 74:5, which refers to its sharpness.
In 2 Kings 6:5 it is the translation of a word used with reference to its being made of iron.
In Isa. 44:12 the Revised Version renders by “axe” the Hebrew maatsad, which means a “hewing” instrument.
In the Authorized Version it is rendered “tongs.”
It is also used in Jer. 10:3, and rendered “axe.”
The “battle-axe” (army of Medes and Persians) mentioned in Jer. 51:20 was probably, as noted in the margin of the Revised Version, a “maul” or heavy mace.
In Ps. 74:6 the word so rendered means “feller.”
(See the figurative expression in Matt. 3:10; Luke 3:9.)
