Tongs
Holman Bible Dictionary [1]
1 Kings 7:49 2 Chronicles 4:21 Isaiah 6:6 Exodus 25:38 Numbers 4:9
Webster's Dictionary [2]
(n. pl.) An instrument, usually of metal, consisting of two parts, or long shafts, jointed together at or near one end, or united by an elastic bow, used for handling things, especially hot coals or metals; - often called a pair of tongs.
King James Dictionary [3]
Tongs n. plu. An instrument of metal, consisting of two parts or long shafts joined at one end used for handling things, particularly fire or heated metals. We say, a pair of tongs, a smith's tongs.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [4]
TONGS . See Arts and Crafts, 2 ; Tabernacle, 6 ( b ).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [5]
tongz ( מלקחים , melḳāḥayim ): This word is, where it occurs in the King James Version and the English Revised Version, with two exceptions, changed in the American Standard Revised Version into "snuffers" ( Exodus 25:38; Numbers 4:9; 2 Chronicles 4:21; see Snuffers ), The exceptions are 1 Kings 7:49 , "tongs of gold," and Isaiah 6:6 , "taken with the tongs from off the altar."
In Isaiah 44:12 , where another word (מעצד , ma‛ăcādh ) is used, "the smith with the tongs" of the King James Version is changed in the Revised Version (British and American) into "the smith maketh an axe" (compare Jeremiah 10:3 ). See also Altar; Tools .
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [6]
is the rendering, in the A.V., of two Heb. words:
1. מֶלְקָחִיַם , Melkacha Yinr ( 1 Kings 7:49; 2 Chronicles 4:21; Isaiah 6:6'), or מִלְקָחִיַם , Malkachac Yin (Exodus 25:38; 27:23 ["snuffers" ]; Numbers 4:9), both from לָקִח , To Take, and signifying prop. Pincers, either for holding coals or for trimming a lamp, (See Snuffers); and
2. מִעֲצָד , Maatsad ( Isaiah 44:12), an Axe (q.v.) (as rendered in Jeremiah 10:3), from עָצִד , To Fell A Tree.
