Cut; Cutting
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [1]
(כּרת , kārath , גּדע , gādha‛ , כּחד , kāḥadh , נתח , nāthaḥ ; ἀποκόπτω , apokóptō , ἐκκόπτω , ekkóptō ): Many Hebrew words are translated "cut." Of these kārath , "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; 1 Kings 11:16; Psalm 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 dāmam , "to be silent," "cease" Jeremiah 25:37 the King James Version; Jeremiah 48:2 ); cāmath "to destroy" ( Psalm 54:5 the King James Version; Psalm 94:23 , etc.); gādhadh , "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; 1 Kings 18:28; Jeremiah 16:6; Jeremiah 41:5; Jeremiah 47:5 ); sereṭ , sāreṭeth , "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" ( gādha‛ ), and Jeremiah 7:29 , gazaz , "Cut off thy hair (the Revised Version, margin "thy crown"), [[O J]] erusalem" (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 ).
Ḥărōsheth , "carving," "engraving," is used for the cutting of stones ( Exodus 31:5; Exodus 35:33 ).
In the New Testament we have apokoptō "to cut away" ( Mark 9:43 , Mark 9:15; Galatians 5:12 the King James Version; see Concision ); diaprı́ō , "to saw through" ( Acts 5:33 , "they were cut to the heart"); dichotoméō , "to cut in two" ( Matthew 24:51 ); suntémnō , "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" ( Psalm 90:10 ); "rolled up" ( Isaiah 38:12 ); "cut off" for "destroy" ( Psalm 18:40; Psalm 69:4; Psalm 118:10 , Psalm 118:11 , Psalm 118:12 ); 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 demı̄ , "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."
