Bible Dictionary: Knife

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Smith's Bible Dictionary

Knife

The knives of the Egyptians, and of other nations in early times, were probably only of hard stone, and the use of the flint or stone knife was sometimes retained for sacred purposes after the introduction of iron and steel.
In their meals the Jews, like other Orientals, made little use of knives, but they were required both for slaughtering animals, either for food or sacrifice, and for cutting up the carcass. (Leviticus 7:33,34; 8:15,20,25; 9:13; Numbers 18:18; 1 Samuel 9:24) etc.
Smaller knives were in use for paring fruit (Josephus) and for sharpening pens. (Jeremiah 36:23)
The razor was often used for Nazarite purposes, for which a special chamber was reserved in the temple. (Numbers 6:5,9,19; Ezekiel 5:1), etc.
The pruning-hooks of (Isaiah 18:5) were probably curved knives.
The lancets of the priests of Baal were doubtless pointed knives. (1 Kings 18:28)

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(1.) Hebrews hereb, "the waster," a sharp instrument for circumcision (Joshua 5:2, 3, lit. "knives of flint;" Comp. Exodus 4:25); a razor (Ezek. 5:1); a graving tool (Exodus 20:25); an axe (Ezek. 26:9).

(2.) Hebrews maakeleth, a large knife for slaughtering and cutting up food (Genesis 22:6, 10; Proverbs 30:14).

(3.) Hebrews sakkin, a knife for any purpose, a table knife (Proverbs 23:2).

(4.) Hebrews mahalaph, a butcher's knife for slaughtering the victims offered in sacrifice (Ezra 1:9).

(5.) Smaller knives (Hebrews ta'ar, Jeremiah 36:26) were used for sharpening pens. The pruning-knives mentioned in Isaiah 18:5 (Hebrews mizmaroth) were probably curved knives.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) An instrument consisting of a thin blade, usually of steel and having a sharp edge for cutting, fastened to a handle, but of many different forms and names for different uses; as, table knife, drawing knife, putty knife, pallet knife, pocketknife, penknife, chopping knife, etc..

2. (n.) A sword or dagger.

3. (v. t.) To prune with the knife.

4. (v. t.) To cut or stab with a knife.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

KNIFE

nif:

(1) ma'akheleth, literally, an instrument for eating; but used of large knives for slaying animals, cutting up a carcass or a sacrificial victim (Genesis 22:6, 10 Judges 19:29 Proverbs 30:14).

(2) cherebh, rendered generally "sword," but in Joshua 5:2, 3 of stone knives for circumcision (compare Exodus 4:25), probably of similar knives in 1 Kings 18:28, used by Baal prophets in gashing themselves. In Ezekiel 5:12 the King James Version, "knife," probably better the Revised Version (British and American), "sword."

(3) ta`ar, usually rendered "razor," in combination with ha-copher, "knife of the writer," or "penknife" (Jeremiah 36:23).

(4) machalaphim, "slaughter-knives" (Ezra 1:9).

(5) sakkin, Aramaic, "knife" (Proverbs 23:2). Early knives were commonly made of sharp stones, especially of flint, later of bronze and iron. The-former remained in use in religious ceremonies long after the latter were in common use.

Knives were not generally used at meals, meats being cut into bits before served, and bread being. broken into fragments. Herod used a knife for paring apples, and attempted suicide with the instrument (Josephus, Ant, XVII, vii, 1; BJ, I, xxxiii, 7).

Edward Bagby Pollard

Greek

3162. machaira -- a short sword or dagger
... sword. Probably feminine of a presumed derivative of mache; a knife, ie Dirk;
figuratively, war, judicial punishment -- sword. see GREEK mache. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3162.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

7915. sakkin -- a knife
... 7914b, 7915. sakkin. 7916 . a knife. Transliteration: sakkin Phonetic
Spelling: (sak-keen') Short Definition: knife. Word Origin ...
/hebrew/7915.htm - 6k

3979. maakeleth -- a knife
... 3978, 3979. maakeleth. 3980 . a knife. Transliteration: maakeleth Phonetic
Spelling: (mah-ak-eh'-leth) Short Definition: knife. ...
/hebrew/3979.htm - 6k

4252. machalaph -- a knife
... 4251, 4252. machalaph. 4253 . a knife. Transliteration: machalaph Phonetic
Spelling: (makh-al-awf') Short Definition: duplicates. ... knife. ...
/hebrew/4252.htm - 6k

4211. mazmerah -- a pruning knife
... a pruning knife. Transliteration: mazmerah Phonetic Spelling: (maz-may-raw') Short
Definition: hooks. ... pruning-hook. From zamar; a pruning-knife -- pruning-hook. ...
/hebrew/4211.htm - 6k

2719. chereb -- a sword
... tool (1). axe, dagger, knife, mattock, sword, tool. From charab; drought;
also a cutting instrument (from its destructive effect), as ...
/hebrew/2719.htm - 6k

8593. taar -- a razor, sheath
... Word Origin from arah Definition a razor, sheath NASB Word Usage knife (1), razor
(5), sheath (7). penknife, razor, scabbard, shave, sheath. ...
/hebrew/8593.htm - 6k

6864. tsor -- a hard pebble, flint
... flint, sharp stone. From tsuwr; a stone (as if pressed hard or to a point); (by
implication, of use) a knife -- flint, sharp stone. see HEBREW tsuwr. ...
/hebrew/6864.htm - 6k

Library

The Pruning Knife
... THE PRUNING KNIFE. Already Ye Are Clean Because of the Word I Have Spoken Unto
You"John 15..3. What is the pruning knife of this heavenly Husbandman? ...
/.../the true vine meditations for a month on john 151-16/the pruning knife.htm

The "Little Knife" Insurrection
... VI. THE "LITTLE KNIFE" INSURRECTION. China ... 1853. Mr. Talmage writes fully
concerning it. THE "LITTLE KNIFE" INSURRECTION. Jan.25, 1853. ...
/.../fagg/forty years in south china/vi the little knife insurrection.htm

A Look Ahead
... And full well He knew that only the knife could help many. And ... But there's
more than knife; there's fulness of life following. He ...
/.../gordon/quiet talks on following the christ/1 a look ahead.htm

Whether the Rite of Circumcision was Fitting?
... But, in cutting, we use an iron knife more commonly than a stone knife. Therefore
circumcision should not have been performed with a stone knife. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether the rite of circumcision.htm

Whether the Judgment of the Intellect is Hindered through ...
... action, so the end of natural science is that which is perceived principally through
the senses"; for the smith does not seek knowledge of a knife except for ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether the judgment of the.htm

Shall we Go?
... And then you suddenly find a knife, a sharpedged knife, being held out across the
road, by an unseen hand back in the bushes. The cutting edge is toward you. ...
/.../gordon/quiet talks on following the christ/shall we go.htm

Cast Your Eye Round the Room in which You Sit...
... among the tribes. Let me suppose that you see a knife on the table, a stick
in the corner, or a fire on the hearth. About each of ...
/.../chesterton/whats wrong with the world/chapter 17 cast your eye.htm

A Little Sermon to School-Girls.
... have not had the advantages which enable them to know how to conduct themselves
gracefully in society; how to dress themselves; how to use knife, fork, napkin ...
/.../a little sermon to school-girls.htm

Of Miracles which were Wrought that the World Might Believe in ...
... pain; yet, among the many folds of the gut, one had escaped the operators so entirely,
that, though they ought to have laid it open with the knife, they never ...
/.../augustine/city of god/chapter 8 of miracles which were.htm

To Queen Giovanna of Naples (Written in Trance)
... The soul treats itself with great cruelty when of its own accord it puts the
knife with which it can be killed in the hands of its foe. ...
/.../benincasa/letters of catherine benincasa/to queen giovanna of naples.htm

Thesaurus

Knife (10 Occurrences)
... 26:9). (2.) Hebrews maakeleth, a large knife for slaughtering and cutting
up food (Genesis 22:6, 10; Proverbs 30:14). (3.) Hebrews ...
/k/knife.htm - 13k

Pen-knife (1 Occurrence)
Pen-knife. Penknife, Pen-knife. Penned . Multi-Version Concordance
Pen-knife (1 Occurrence). Jeremiah 36:23 And it came ...
/p/pen-knife.htm - 6k

Tools (3 Occurrences)
... See HAMMER. (2) Of cutting tools, the simplest was of course the knife. ... But
the hatchet of Psalm 74:6 may be a knife. See HATCHET; KNIFE. ...
/t/tools.htm - 14k

Razor (8 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary. 1. (n.) A keen-edged knife of peculiar shape, used in
shaving the hair from the face or the head. 2. (n.) A tusk of a wild boar. Int. ...
/r/razor.htm - 10k

Penknife (1 Occurrence)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary (n.) A small pocketknife; formerly, a knife used for making
and mending quill pens. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. PENKNIFE. ...
/p/penknife.htm - 7k

Pen (16 Occurrences)
... the book. In Jeremiah 36:23 it says that the king cut the roll with the
penknife (literally, the scribe's knife). This whole scene ...
/p/pen.htm - 14k

Cutteth (37 Occurrences)
... Judges 19:29 and cometh in unto his house, and taketh the knife, and layeth hold
on his concubine, and cutteth her in pieces to her bones -- into twelve pieces ...
/c/cutteth.htm - 18k

Knewest (11 Occurrences)

/k/knewest.htm - 10k

Knit (11 Occurrences)

/k/knit.htm - 10k

Taketh (398 Occurrences)
... Genesis 22:6 And Abraham taketh the wood of the burnt-offering, and placeth on Isaac
his son, and he taketh in his hand the fire, and the knife; and they go on ...
/t/taketh.htm - 35k

Bible Concordance

Knife (10 Occurrences)

Ephesians 2:11 Therefore, do not forget that formerly you were Gentiles as to your bodily condition. You were called the Uncircumcision by those who style themselves the Circumcised--their circumcision being one which the knife has effected.
(WEY)

Genesis 22:6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Genesis 22:10 Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Exodus 4:25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me."
(See NIV)

Judges 19:29 When he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Proverbs 23:2 put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 5:6 And I will make it waste; its branches will not be touched with the knife, or the earth worked with the spade; but blackberries and thorns will come up in it: and I will give orders to the clouds not to send rain on it.
(BBE)

Jeremiah 36:23 It happened, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
(Root in WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 5:1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
(KJV DBY WBS)

Ezekiel 5:2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
(KJV DBY WBS)

Subtopics

Knife

Knife of the Temple, Returned from Babylon

Knife used for Sharpening Pens

Knife: An Edged Tool Used by Abraham in offering Isaac

Knife: Self-Flagellation With, in Idolatrous Worship

Related Terms

Pen-knife (1 Occurrence)

Tools (3 Occurrences)

Razor (8 Occurrences)

Penknife (1 Occurrence)

Pen (16 Occurrences)