μάχαιρα

μάχαιρα — máchaira

μάχαιρα, genitive μαχαίρας (so (with R G) Lachmann in Luk 21:24) and μαχαίρης, dative μάχαιρα. (so (with R G) Lachmann in Luk 22:49; Act 12:2) and μαχαίρῃ (between which forms the manuscripts vary, cf. (Scrivener, Collation, etc., p. lvi.; Tdf. Proleg., p. 117; WHs Appendix, p. 156a); Winers Grammar, 62 (61); Buttmann, 11; Delitzsch on Heb 11:34, p. 584 note), ἡ, (akin to μάχη and Latinmactare);

1. a large knife, used for killing animals and cutting up flesh: Homer, Pindar, Herodotus, at.; hence, Gen 22:6; Gen 22:10; Jdg 19:29 Alex., for מַאֲכֶלֶת.

2. a small sword, distinguished from the large sword, the ῤομφαία (Josephus, Antiquities 6, 9, 5 ἀποτεμνει τήν κεφαλήν τῇ ῤομφαία τῇ ἐκείνου (Goliath's), μάχαιραν, οὐκ ἔχων αὐτός), and curred, for a cutting stroke; distinct also from ξίφος, a straight sword, for thrusting, Xenophon, r. eq. 12, 11, cf. Hell. 3, 3, 7; but the words are frequently used interchangeably. In the N. T. universally, a sword (the Sept. often for חֶרֶב): as a weapon for making or repelling an attack, Mat 26:47; Mat 26:51-52,(55); Mar 14:43; Mar 14:47; Luk 22:36; Luk 22:38; Luk 22:49; Luk 22:52; Joh 18:10; Act 16:27; Heb 11:37; Rev 6:4; Rev 13:10,(14); by a Hebraism, στόμα μαχαίρας, the edge of the sword (חֶרֶב פִּי, Gen 34:26; Jos 8:24; 1Sa 13:22; Jdg 3:16, etc. (but in the Sept. the rendering στόμα ξίφους or στόμα ῤομφαίας is more common)): Luk 21:24; Heb 11:34; μάχαιρα δίστομος (see δίστομος), Heb 4:12. of the sword as the instrument of a magistrate or judge: death by the sword, Rom 8:35; ἀναιρεῖν τινα μάχαιρα, Act 12:2; τήν μαχαίρας φόρειν, to bear the sword, is used of him to whom the sword has been committed, viz. to use when a malefactor is to he punished; hence, equivalent to to have the power of life and death, Rom 13:4 (so ξίφος, ξιφη ἔχειν, Philostr. vit. Apoll. 7, 16; vit. sophist. 1, 25, 2 (3), cf. Dion Cass. 42, 27; and in the Talmud the king who bears the sword, of the Hebrew king). Metaphorically, μάχαιρα, a weapon of war, is used for war, or for quarrels and dissensions that destroy peace; so in the phrase βαλεῖν μάχαιραν ἐπί τήν τήν, to send war on earth, Mat 10:34 (for which Luk 12:51 says διαμερισμόν); ἡ μάχαιρα τοῦ πνεύματος, the sword with which the Spirit subdues the impulses to sin and proves its own power and efficacy (which sword is said to be ῤῆμα Θεοῦ (cf. Buttmann, 128 (112))), Eph 6:17 (on the genitive in this passage cf. Ellicott or Meyer).