Psalms 74:6
in Psalms 74and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And now all the carved work thereof They break down with hatchet and hammers.
KJV
But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
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This verse in Psalms 74
Commentary
8 notes on this verseBut 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.
This site's exposition
unfurled their banners as signs
on Psalms 74:4-6
The foes roar inside the meeting place and raise their own banners there as signs. The wreckage is put in the words of woodcutting: axes swung in a thicket, and the carvings smashed with hatchets and picks. The temple is cut down like timber.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Now let us hasten over the verses following after the destruction of Jerusalem, for the reason that they are both evident, and it does not please me to tarry over the punishment even of enemies. "As if in a forest of trees with axes, they have cut down the doors thereof at once; with mattock and hammer they have thrown Her down" [Psalm 74:6]. That is, conspiring together, with firm determination, "with mattock and hammer" they have thrown Her down. "They have burned with fire Your Sanctuary, they have defiled on the ground the Tabernacle of Your name" [Psalm 74:7].
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
carved work-- (1Ki 6:29). thereof--that is, of the temple, in the writer's mind, though not expressed till Ps 74:7, in which its utter destruction by fire is mentioned (2Ki 25:9;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
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. Truths which have upheld the afflicted and cheered the dying are smitten by pretentious Goths, who would be accounted learned, but know not the first principals of the truth. With sharp ridicule, and heavy blows of sophistry, they break the faith of some: and would, if it were possible, destroy the confidence of the elect themselves. Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans are but types of spiritual foes who labour to crush the truth and the people of God.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
But now they break down the carved work thereof ... - literally, “But now the carvings of it together, at once, with sledge and hammers they beat down.” The carved work refers evidently to the ornaments of the temple. The word used here - פתוח pittûach - is rendered engraving, carved work, or carving; Exo 28:11, Exo 28:21, Exo 28:36; Exo 39:6, Exo 39:14, Exo 39:30; Zec 3:9; 2Ch 2:14. It is the very word which in 1Ki 6:29 is applied to the ornaments around the walls of the temple - the “carved figures of cherubim, and palm trees, and open flowers,” and there can be no doubt that the allusion here is to those ornaments. These were rudely cut down, or knocked off, with axes and hammers, as a man lays low the trees of the wood. The phrase “at once” means that they drove forward the work with all despatch. They spared none of them. They treated them all alike as an axeman does the trees of a forest when his object is to clear the land.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְ֭עַתָּה | veatah | and now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| פִּתּוּחֶ֣יהָ | pitucheiha | engravings its | H6603 → | |
| יָּ֑חַד | yachad | altogether | H3162 → | 141 times |
| בְּכַשִּׁ֥יל | bekhashil | with axe[s] | H3781 → | |
| וְ֝כֵֽילַפֹּ֗ת | vekheilapot | and crowbars | H3597 → | |
| יַהֲלֹמֽוּן׃ | yahalomun | they struck ! | H1986 → |
וְ֭עַתָּהand now
veatahH6258 →433 times
פִּתּוּחֶ֣יהָengravings its
pitucheihaH6603 →
יָּ֑חַדaltogether
yachadH3162 →141 times
בְּכַשִּׁ֥ילwith axe[s]
bekhashilH3781 →
וְ֝כֵֽילַפֹּ֗תand crowbars
vekheilapotH3597 →
יַהֲלֹמֽוּן׃they struck !
yahalomunH1986 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
7 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Kings 6:29Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 6:18
The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 6:32
The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.
- Psalms 92:12–15
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
- Revelation 5:11–14
Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels and living creatures and elders encircling the throne, and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.
- Revelation 7:9
After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes…
- 1 Kings 6:18
Through
1 Kings 6:18The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 7:24
Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.
- 1 Kings 7:24
Through
1 Kings 6:32The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 6:29
Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
- 1 Kings 6:29
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 74; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.