CUT, CUTTING (כָּרַת, H4162, meaning to cut, to cut off, etc.; one of several roots with these meanings). The roots so rendered in the Eng. VSS are used both literally and figuratively in a variety of circumstances.

1. Literal, life-circumstance usage. Some of the literal usages are the following: David dropped Goliath with a stone and “cut off” his head (1 Sam 17:51); David “cut off” part of Saul’s robe (24:4, 5); the sacrificial animals were slain and “cut” into pieces for the particular sacrifices (Lev 1:6, נָתַח, H5983); images of the Canaanites were to be broken and “cut down” (Exod 34:13; Deut 7:5, גָּדַע, H1548); trees were “cut down” for various reasons (2 Kings 6:4, גָּזַר֒, H1615; Ezek 39:10, חָטַב, H2634); “cutting off” a part of the body was often an aspect of the treatment of an enemy (Judg 1:6, קָצַצ֒, H7915) or of recommended punitive action (Mark 9:43, άποκόπτω).

2. Figurative, relational usage. Precaution was to be taken that a tribe should not become extinct or not “cut off” from the other tribes (Num 4:18; RSV, “be destroyed”); Joshua succeeded in defeating (“cutting off”) the peoples from the Jordan to the Great Sea (Josh 23:4); the people of Israel were warned that disobedience would result in being “cut off” from their land (1 Kings 9:7); the peoples and their images around Israel were to be “cut off” or destroyed as a result of God’s acts of judgment against them (Isa 14:22; Mic 5:10-13; Nah 1:14; Zeph 1:4; Zech 9:6 KJV).

3. A specific, punitive usage. Certain passages in Leviticus specify that a person guilty of breaching particular Mosaic laws shall be “cut off from among his people”: the person guilty of eating blood (Lev 17:10); the person guilty of giving his child to Molech (20:3, 5); the person guilty of giving himself to mediums and wizards (20:6).

4. A particular, prohibitive usage. “Cutting” or mutilating the body was expressly forbidden for Israelites in contrast to the customary practice of slashing and gashing the body among neighboring peoples. The people of Moab in brokenness and lament shaved their heads and made “cuttings” (“gashes”, RSV) on their hands (Jer 48:37, גָּדַד֒, H1517); “cutting” or “incisions” were forbidden for Israel as an evidence of mourning for the dead (Lev 19:28, שָׂרַט, H8581); priests were not permitted to make any “cuttings” in their flesh (21:5, שֶׂ֫רֶט, H8582). By contrast the prophets of Baal slashed and gashed their bodies in frenzy in order to prevail against or move Baal to action (1 Kings 18:25-29); this practice was strongly condemned by the prophets (Jer 47:5; Hos 7:14).