The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax, and mighty Lebanon will fall. ¹ 

As one of them was felling a log, the ax head ¹  dropped into the water. He shouted, “Oh no, ²  my master! It was borrowed!”

Even now the ax is laid at ¹  the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, ¹  and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be ²  cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Suppose he goes with someone else ¹  to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax ²  to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose ³  from the handle and strikes ⁴  his fellow worker ⁵  so hard that he dies. The person responsible ⁶  may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. ⁷ 

If an iron axhead ¹  is blunt and a workman ²  does not sharpen ³  its edge, ⁴  he must exert a great deal of effort; ⁵  so wisdom has the advantage of giving success.

For the religion ¹  of these people is worthless. They cut down a tree in the forest, and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. ² 

Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ¹  As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry ¹  were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built.

“Babylon, ¹  you are my war club, ²  my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. ³  I used you to destroy kingdoms.

He and all his men ¹  went up on Mount Zalmon. He ²  took an ax ³  in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it ⁴  on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” ⁵ 

A club is counted ¹  as a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

The prophet ¹  asked, “Where did it drop in?” When he showed him the spot, Elisha ²  cut off a branch, threw it in at that spot, and made the ax head float.

If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, ¹  you must not chop down its trees, ²  for you may eat fruit ³  from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! ⁴ 

Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow, ¹  so is the one who testifies against ²  his neighbor as a false witness. ³ 

One who quarries stones may be injured by them; one who splits logs may be endangered by them.

Next, I noticed ¹  six men ²  coming from the direction of the upper gate ³  which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit ⁴  at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

So all Israel had to go down to the Philistines in order to get their plowshares, cutting instruments, axes, and sickles ¹  sharpened.

They charged ¹  two-thirds of a shekel ²  to sharpen plowshares and cutting instruments, and a third of a shekel ³  to sharpen picks and axes, and to set ox goads.

Look, the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power. ¹  The tallest trees ²  will be cut down, the loftiest ones will be brought low.