HAMMER. Ancient Near Eastern craftsmen had available for use a wide variety of specialized hammers suited for different purposes. Hammer marks on building stones and other evidences indicate that the type of hammers available in the ancient world corresponded roughly to the types still used in the Near E today.

The two most-used Heb. words for hammer seem to distinguish hammers only in respect to size. It is probable that other, more specific terms were not preserved in Scriptures. The מַקֶּ֫בֶת֒, H5216, also מַקָּבָה, refers to smaller hammers and פַּטִּישׁ, H7079, to larger hammers. The מַקֶּ֫בֶת֒, H5216, could refer to the small wooden mallet used to drive tent pegs (Judg 4:21), to the small stone-working hammers used to “dress” surfaces of building stone (1 Kings 6:7), and to the carpenter’s hammer used for decorating and working wooden idols (Jer 10:4). Probably, each of these refers to a relatively small hammer of a distinctive type. מַקֶּ֫בֶת֒, H5216, refers once to a blacksmith’s hammer (Isa 44:12), perhaps of a smaller type by analogy with the other usages of the word.

The פַּטִּישׁ, H7079, is once used for the large sledge hammer used to crack boulders (Jer 23:29). It describes Babylon’s earth-shaking role as the “hammer of the whole earth” (Jer 50:23). It too describes a blacksmith’s hammer, perhaps of a larger sort (Isa 41:7).

Three other Heb. words have been tr. “hammer.” הַלְמוּת, H2153, (Judg 5:26) is clarified by context and by its usage as parallel to מַקֶּ֫בֶת֒, H5216, of Judges 4:21. כֵֽילַפֹּ֗ת (Ps 74:6) is an Akkad. loan word (Akkad. kalapati) which refers to some iron or partly iron tool for destruction. מַפֵּץ, H5151, (lit. shatterer) occurs in Jeremiah 51:20 and may be only a poetic expression.

Bibliography W. Carslaw, “Hammer,” HDB (1900); W. Corswant, “Hammer,” A Dictionary of Life in Bible Times (1960).