AXE, AX-HEAD. In the Eng. VSS nine Heb. words and one Gr. word have been so tr. The one specifically meaning “axe” in the modern sense is גַּרְזֶן, H1749, a bronze or iron implement for hewing wood, skiving stone, or using as a weapon (Deut 19:5; 20:19; 1 Kings 6:7; Isa 10:15). An important occurrence is known from the Siloam tunnel of Hezekiah, 718-687 b.c. (2 Kings 20:20, et al.; cf. H. Donner and W. Röllig, Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften [1962], 189:2, 4). Both the name and the object were of foreign origin. The Heb. term קַרְדֹּם, H7935, should be tr. “adze.” A similar root is present in Arab. and Syr., prob. a survival of the ancient Heb. usage. It is mentioned in Judges 9:48; 1 Samuel 13:20, 21; Psalm 74:5; and Jeremiah 46:22. The Heb. חֶ֫רֶב, H2995, usually tr. “sword” in over 350 occurrences, is mistakenly tr. “axe” in Ezekiel 26:9 KJV. The rare Heb. word כַּשִּׁיל, H4172, appears only in Psalm 74:6, RSV, traditionally understood as a hiphil form from a root “to stumble,” thus meaning “stumbler,” “feller,” as of trees. The Heb. term מַגְזֵרָה, H4477, is to be understood as a maqtal participle from the root “to cut,” “to slice,” in its two occurrences (2 Sam 12:31); 1 Chronicles 20:3 should be tr. either “axe” or “saw.” The Heb. term מַעֲצָד, H5108, appears in the Gezer Calendar as a month name, “Reaping,” semantically equivalent to Akkad. eṩēdu. Used as the name of an implement in Isaiah 10:34; 44:12; Jeremiah 10:3, KJV tr. “axe,” “terror,” “tongs”; other VSS show similar confusion; prob. means a “pruning hook” or “long-handled saw”; KB read “bill-hook.” In some passages the common Sem. word for iron (Fe), Heb. בַּרְזֶל, H1366, is used poetically for “axe” (Deut 19:5, et al.) The Heb. מְגֵרָה, H4490, (tr. as “axes” in 1 Chronicles 20:3 only) tr. “axe,” however, more properly “saw” with microlithic stone or bronze teeth as in 2 Samuel 12:31; 1 Kings 7:9. The rare Heb. מַפֵּץ, H5151, which appears in Proverbs 25:18 and Jeremiah 51:20, means “war club,” “mace.” The single Gr. term, ἀξίνη, G544, “an axe,” is used throughout all periods of Gr. lit.