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 (Gen 22:6; Gen 22:10; Judg 19:29; Prov 30:14).

(2) cherebh, rendered generally "sword," but in Josh 5:2; Josh 5:3 of stone knives for circumcision (compare Exod 4:25), probably of similar knives in 1 Kgs 18:28, used by Baal prophets in gashing themselves. In Ezek 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" (Jer 36:23).

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

(5) sakkin, Aramaic, "knife" (Prov 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