The meaning of Cut; Cutting in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
(karath, gadha', kachadh, nathach; apokopto, ekkopto): Many Hebrew words are translated "cut." Of these karath, "to cut down, out, off," is the most frequent. As "cut off" it is used in the sense of laying or destroying (Genesis 9:11; Deuteronomy 12:29; I Kings 11:16; Psalms 101:8, etc.), also for cutting off transgressors from the community of Yahweh, which meant probably separation, or exclusion, rather than death or destruction (Genesis 17:14; Exodus 12:15, Exodus 12:19). Other words are damam, "to be silent," "cease" Jeremiah 25:37 the King James Version; Jeremiah 48:2); tsamath "to destroy" (Psalms 54:5 the King James Version; Psalms 94:23, etc.); gadhadh, "to cut, one's self," is used of the cutting of one's flesh before heathen gods and in mourning for the dead, which was forbidden to the Israelites, (Deuteronomy 14:1; I Kings 18:28; Jeremiah 16:6; Jeremiah 41:5; Jeremiah 47:5); sereT, sareTeth, "incision," are also used of those "cuttings of the flesh" (Leviticus 19:28; compare Leviticus 21:5). See CUTTINGS IN THE FLESH. The cutting of the hair of head and beard in mourning for the dead is referred to in Isaiah 15:2; "Every, beard is cut off" (gadha'), and Jeremiah 7:29, gazaz, "Cut off thy hair (the Revised Version, margin "thy crown"), O Jerusalem (compare Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 16:6; Ezekiel 7:18; Amos 8:10). This early and widespread practice was also forbidden to the Israelites as being unworthy of them in their relation to Yahweh (Leviticus 19:27; Deuteronomy 14:1).
Charosheth, "carving," "engraving," is used for the cutting of stones (Exodus 31:5; Exodus 35:33).
In the New Testament we have apokopto "to cut away" (Mark 9:43, Mark 9:15; Galatians 5:12 the King James Version; see CONCISION); diaprio, "to saw through" (Acts 5:33, "they were cut to the heart"); dichotomeo, "to cut in two" (Matthew 24:51); suntemno, "to cut together" (Romans 9:28), "finishing it and cutting it short," i.e; "making it conclusive and brief."
Among the changes of the Revised Version (British and American) are "brought to silence" for "cut down" (Jeremiah 25:37), also for "cut off" (Jeremiah 49:26; Jeremiah 50:30); "sore wounded" for "cut in pieces" (Zechariah 12:3); for "cut off," "pass through" (Job 11:10), "gone" (Psalms 90:10); "rolled up" (Isaiah 38:12); "cut off" for "destroy" (Psalms 18:40; Psalms 69:4; Psalms 118:10-12); for "cut them in the head" (Amos 9:1), "break them in pieces on the head of"; for "in the cutting off of my days" (Isaiah 38:10; Hebrew demi, "silence," "rest"), "noontide," margin "Or, tranquillity" (Gesenius, Delitzsch, etc., "in the quiet of my days"); instead of, "I would that they were even cut off which trouble you" (Galatians 5:12), the English Revised Version has "cut themselves off," margin "mutilate themselves," the American Standard Revised Version "go beyond circumcision," margin, Greek: "mutilate themselves."
W. L. Walker
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