Ax

How Nave’s arranged it

• An implementDeuteronomy 19:51 Samuel 13:201 Samuel 13:212 Samuel 12:31Psalms 74:5Psalms 74:6
• Elisha causes to swim2 Kings 6:52 Kings 6:6
• Battle-axEzekiel 26:9
• FIGURATIVEJeremiah 46:22Jeremiah 51:20Matthew 3:10

The passages, in Bible order (12)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 12 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Deuteronomy 19:5

   If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 19:51 voice

   “The very words of Scripture indicate that even ignorance is a sin. This is why Job offers holocausts for his sons, lest perchance they may have sinned unwittingly in thought. And if a man is killed by the iron of an axe that flies off the handle when a man is hewing wood, the wood hewer is ordered to flee to a city of refuge and remain in that place until the death of the high priest.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 19:5→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. 1 Samuel 13:20

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

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 13:202 voices

   “But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines - We find from this that they did not grant them as much as Porsenna did to the Romans; he permitted the people to manufacture the implements of husbandry.

   “They put down all the smiths' shops, transplanted the smiths into their own country, and forbade any Israelite, under severe penalties, to exercise the trade or mystery of working in brass or iron, though they had rich mines of both ( Deut. viii. 9 ) in such plenty that it was said of Asher, his shoes shall be iron and brass, Deut. xxxiii.

   Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 13:20→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. 1 Samuel 13:21

   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.

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 13:212 voices

   “Yet they had a file - The Hebrew פצירה petsirah, from פצר patsar, to rub hard, is translated very differently by the versions and by critics. Our translation may be as likely as any: they permitted them the use of files, (I believe the word means grindstone), to restore the blunted edges of their tridents, axes, and goads.

   “They put down all the smiths' shops, transplanted the smiths into their own country, and forbade any Israelite, under severe penalties, to exercise the trade or mystery of working in brass or iron, though they had rich mines of both ( Deut. viii. 9 ) in such plenty that it was said of Asher, his shoes shall be iron and brass, Deut. xxxiii.

   Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 13:21→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. 2 Samuel 12:31

   David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 12:312 voices

   “And therefore it is probable, David exercised this cruelty whilst his heart was hardened, and impenitent; and when he was bereaved of that good spirit of God, which would have taught him more mercy.

   “For the saw as an implement of torture compare Heb 11:37. Harrows of iron - Or rather thrashing-machines (Isa 28:27; Isa 41:15, etc.). Axes - The word so rendered occurs only here and in 1Ch 20:3. It evidently means some cutting instrument.

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 12:31→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. 2 Kings 6:5

   As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”

   ›Commentary on 2 Kings 6:52 voices

   “Elisha, by casting a stick into the river Jordan, recovered the iron part of the axe with which the sons of the prophets had gone to cut down trees to build the house in which they wished to read and study the law and commandments of God; even as our Christ, by being crucified on the tree, and by purifying us with water, has redeemed us, though plunged in the direst offences which we have committed, and has made us a house of prayer and adoration.

   “The ax head - literally, as in the margin. The Jews used iron for the heads of axes at a very early date (see Deu 19:5). They probably acquired a knowledge of the smelting process in Egypt, where iron was employed at least from the time of the third Rameses.

   Everything gathered on 2 Kings 6:5→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. 2 Kings 6:6

   “Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float.

   ›Commentary on 2 Kings 6:62 voices

   “Elisha, by casting a stick into the river Jordan, recovered the iron part of the axe with which the sons of the prophets had gone to cut down trees to build the house in which they wished to read and study the law and commandments of God; even as our Christ, by being crucified on the tree, and by purifying us with water, has redeemed us, though plunged in the direst offences which we have committed, and has made us a house of prayer and adoration.

   “And accordingly Elisha, having taken "wood" and cast it into that place where the iron had been submerged, forthwith it rose and swam on the surface, and the "wood" sank, which the sons of the prophets recovered. Thus they understood that the spirit of Elijah was presently conferred on him.

   Everything gathered on 2 Kings 6:6→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Psalms 74:5

   like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees

   ›Commentary on Psalms 74:52 voices

   “A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. Once men were renowned for felling the cedars and preparing them for building the temple, but now the axe finds other work, and men are as proud of destroying as their fathers were of erecting. Thus in the olden times our sires dealt sturdy blows against the forests of error, and laboured hard to lay the axe at the root of the trees; but, alas!

   “Famous - The temple was so noble a structure, that it was a great honour to any man to be employed in the meanest part of the work, though it were but in cutting down the trees of Lebanon.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 74:5→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Psalms 74:6

   and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 74:62 voices

   “But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. The invaders were as industrious to destroy as the ancient builders had been to construct. Such fair carving it was barbarous to hew in pieces, but the Vandals had no mercy and broke down all, with any weapon which came to hand. In these days men are using axes and sledgehammers against the gospel and the church. Glorious truths, far more exquisite than the goodliest carving, are cavilled over and smashed by the blows of modern criticism.

   “Axes and hammers - These words are not Hebrew, but Chaldee or Syriack, to point out the time when this was done, even when the Chaldeans brought in their language, together with their arms, among the Israelites.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 74:6→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Jeremiah 46:22

   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.

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 46:222 voices

   “The voice thereof shall go like a serpent,.... That is, the voice of Egypt, before compared to a heifer, when in its glory; but now it shall not bellow like a heifer in fat pasture, bat hiss like a serpent, when drove out of its hole, and pursued; signifying, that their voice should be low and submissive, and should not speak one big or murmuring word to their conquerors. The voice of the serpent is, by Aristotle (m) said to be small and weak; so Aelianus (n).

   “The voice thereof - Her voice, i. e., the voice of Egypt. The word here probably means the busy sound of life and activity in the towns of Egypt, the tramping of her hosts, and the turmoil of camp and city. All this at the approach of the Chaldaean army shall depart, as the snake flees away when disturbed in its haunts by the wood-cutters. March with an army - Advance with might. With axes - The comparison of the Chaldaean warriors to woodcutters arose from their being armed with axes.

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 46:22→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Jeremiah 51:20

    “You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.

    ›Commentary on Jeremiah 51:201 voice

    “Thou art my battle axe - I believe Nebuchadnezzar is meant, who is called, Jer 50:23, the hammer of the whole earth. Others think the words are spoken of Cyrus. All the verbs are in the past tense: “With thee have I broken in pieces,” etc., etc.

    Everything gathered on Jeremiah 51:20→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Ezekiel 26:9

    He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his axes.

    ›Commentary on Ezekiel 26:91 voice

    “And he shall set engines of war against thy walls,.... Which some Jewish writers understand of crossbows, out of which stones or arrows were cast; but rather, according to Kimchi and Jarchi, they were warlike machines, invented to throw large stones against the walls of a place, to beat them down.

    Everything gathered on Ezekiel 26:9→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Matthew 3:10

    The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

    ›Commentary on Matthew 3:102 voices

    These verses describe the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ: it is a ministry that deserves close attention. Few preachers ever produced such effects as John the Baptist: “There went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan.”None ever received such praise from the great head of the church: Jesus called him “a burning and a shining light” ( John 5:35 ); the great Bishop of souls Himself declared, that “among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”

    “But the axe also already lieth - That is, there is no room for such idle pretenses. Speedy execution is determined against all that do not repent. The comparison seems to be taken from a woodman that has laid down his axe to put off his coat, and then immediately goes to work to cut down the tree.

    Everything gathered on Matthew 3:10→

    Verse page →Original language →