StrongerBible

ḥarits

חָרִיץ

HebrewH2757“cheeses, iron implements, ...”

Appears 3 times · tap a cell to see the verses

1Sa 17:182Sa 12:311Ch 20:3
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradekhah-REETSnoun

What ḥarits means

a cut: a piece sliced off, such as a cheese, or a sharp iron tool used for cutting

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is a rare word, appearing only three times, and it is always concrete. Underneath its two uses lies one simple idea: something to do with cutting. In one place it is a slice cut from pressed milk-curds, that is, a cheese. In the other two it is a sharp iron tool, listed alongside saws and axes. The same noun fits both because both are, quite literally, a cut: one is the piece that has been cut off, the other is the blade that does the cutting.

Because the word standing next to it fixes the sense, a reader is rarely in doubt. "Cuts of milk" gives cheeses; "cuts of iron" gives cutting tools. What ties the uses together is the plain physical act of cutting, with no special or religious weight added.

Nuances

1aa slice cut from pressed milk-curds; a cheese
1Sa 17:18
1ba sharp iron tool for cutting, grouped with saws and axes
2Sa 12:311Ch 20:3
2Sa 12:31

Whether 2 Samuel 12:31 reports that David subjected the captured Ammonites to forced labor with saws and iron implements or executed them with those implements. The debate turns on the governing verb (Masoretic wayyasem, "he set them to," versus the harsher parallel wayyasar in 1 Chronicles 20:3, traditionally taken as "he sawed them"), not on the meaning of the iron tools.

  • majorityDavid consigned the captured population to forced labor and demolition work with saws, iron implements, and axes; the tools are the equipment they were set to work with. This follows the plain Hebrew construction "he set them to" plus the concurring Septuagint, Peshitta, and Targum.; P. Kyle McCarter Jr., II Samuel (Anchor Bible 9, 1984), on 12:26-31; David Toshio Tsumura, The Second Book of Samuel (NICOT, 2019), on 12:31; A. A. Anderson, 2 Samuel (Word Biblical Commentary 11, 1989), on 12:31; Robert Alter, The David Story (1999), on 2 Samuel 12:31; Septuagint (2 Kingdoms) 12:31
  • minorityDavid executed the captives, cutting them with the saws and iron implements. This reading rests on the harsher parallel verb in 1 Chronicles 20:3 ("he cut/sawed them") and on the Latin Vulgate's serravit ("he sawed").; C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel, on 12:31; Vulgate, 2 Samuel 12:31 (serravit)

What scholars say about ḥarits

חָרִיץ (root חרץ, "to cut, incise") is a rare noun with a single concrete sense, "a cut thing," realized in two ways: a cut portion (the "cuts of milk," i.e. cheeses, of 1 Samuel 17:18) and a sharp iron cutting implement (2 Samuel 12:31 // 1 Chronicles 20:3). BDB gives it one entry with these two senses and cross-references Amos 1:3 to the separate word חָרוּץ. It must be kept distinct from that look-alike, which the lexica split into several homonyms ("sharp"/threshing sledge, "diligent," "decision," "trench/moat," and "gold"); DCH maximizes such homonyms while HALOT and BDB are more conservative. Comparative Semitic evidence (Akkadian ḫarāṣu "to cut," ḫarīṣu "(city) moat"; Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Aramaic cognates) supports the "cut/incise" core, and later Hebrew narrows חָרִיץ toward "incision, groove, trench." The one exegetical crux, 2 Samuel 12:31, concerns the governing verb (Masoretic "set them to" versus the Chronicles parallel taken as "he sawed"), not the noun: the Septuagint, Peshitta, Targum, and most modern commentators (McCarter, Anderson, Tsumura, Alter) read forced labor, against the torture rendering of the Vulgate and the older tradition.

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • Brown, Driver, and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB), s.v. חָרִיץlexicon
  • Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), s.v. חָרִיץlexicon
  • David J. A. Clines (ed.), The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH), s.v. חָרִיץlexicon
  • Wilhelm Gesenius, Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament, s.v. חָרוּץlexicon
  • P. Kyle McCarter Jr., II Samuel (Anchor Bible 9, 1984)commentary
  • David Toshio Tsumura, The Second Book of Samuel (NICOT, 2019)commentary
  • A. A. Anderson, 2 Samuel (Word Biblical Commentary 11, 1989)commentary
  • G. C. O'Ceallaigh, 'And So David Did to All the Cities of Ammon,' Vetus Testamentum 12 (1962): 179-189article
  • Oded Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (1987)monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of חָרִיץ

m p construct

חֲרִצֵי, חֲרִיצֵי

1Sa 17:18, 2Sa 12:31, 1Ch 20:3