Hammer

 Is not my word like fire? Declares the LORD, and like a hammer which shatters a rock?
 (Jeremiah 23:29 NASB)


 The hammer was used for splitting or trimming stone, beating metals, and in wood-

carving, as well as for driving nails, tent pins, etc. Four words are translated "hammer," but the

distinction between them is very vague and in some cases the propriety of the translation is

questionable (Easton 1913). The Hebrew words for "hammer" are halmut, kelap, pattish, and

maqqaba.

* "halmut" was a heavy wooden mallet used for driving in tent pegs (Judges 5:26) (Unger
 1988).
* "kelap" was another type of heavy mallet, or possibly an axe (Psalm 74:6); this word is
 also translated "hatchet" in the NIV (Unger 1988).
* A smaller tool suitable for the gold beater (Isaiah 41:7) and the quarrymen (Jeremiah
 23:29) was call a pattish (Unger 1988).
* A similar tool to the "pattish", having more of a point was the "maqqabah". This was used
 by the stonecutters and smiths (1 Kings 6:7; Isaiah 44:12). This was the workman's
 hammer or even possibly a chisel (Unger 1988).
Saw

 All these were of costly stones, of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside
 and outside; even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great
 court (1 Kings 7:9 NASB).

 The saw was used both for wood and for stone (1 Kings 7:9) in the latter case being

employed in connection with water and sand (Easton 1913). Sawing stone was a very laborious

process, and this was one reason why the ancients preferred stone in large blocks. There is no

indication in the Bible of the size of the saws that were in use, but some must have been of a

fairly large size to cut some of the large stones for the temple.

 Sharpening Tools

 Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the
 axes, and to sharpen the goads (1 Samuel 13:21 KJV).