Saw
The saw is a toothed blade used to cut wood and stone, one of the ordinary tools of builders and craftsmen in the biblical world. Scripture mentions it only a handful of times, and never describes it in detail. Yet each mention is instructive: the sawn stones of Solomon's palace complex, the hard labor imposed on the Ammonites after David's war, Isaiah's image of a saw that cannot boast against the one who uses it, and the faithful of Hebrews 11 who were sawn in two.
Because the Bible says little about the saw itself, this entry draws on what the texts actually state and on what archaeology tells us about ancient tools, while marking clearly where interpretation is uncertain. The value of the subject lies less in the tool than in what God teaches through it: the dignity of honest work, the sovereignty of God over every instrument he uses, and the costly faithfulness of those who suffered for him.
1. Etymology and meaning
The most common Hebrew word is megerah (מְגֵרָה), found in 2 Samuel 12:31, 1 Kings 7:9 and 1 Chronicles 20:3. It is usually connected with the verb garar, to drag or to pull, which suits the way ancient saws were worked: many cut on the pull stroke rather than the push. In 1 Kings 7:9 the related verb appears in the phrase stones sawed with saws.
In Isaiah 10:15 a different word is used, massor (מַשּׂוֹר), from a root meaning to saw. The two Hebrew words appear to be practical synonyms. In the New Testament, Hebrews 11:37 uses the Greek verb prizō (πρίζω), to saw, in the passive form epristhēsan, they were sawn in two.
2. Historical context and biblical use
The tool in the ancient world
Saws were known long before Israel. Egyptian tomb paintings show carpenters cutting planks with copper or bronze saws, the wood lashed to an upright post while the worker pulls the blade. In the Iron Age, iron blades became common, and archaeologists have found saw fragments at sites in the land of Israel. Such saws were usually short, with a single handle, and the teeth were often set to cut as the saw was drawn toward the worker.
Stone was cut differently. For relatively soft stone such as limestone, workers used large blades, sometimes without true teeth, pulled back and forth with sand or grit as an abrasive. Harder stone required even more labor. This background helps explain why sawn stone was considered costly and prestigious.
Solomon's buildings
In describing Solomon's palace complex, the historian notes that all these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front (1 Kings 7:9). The detail emphasizes the quality and precision of the work: the blocks were finished on both faces. It fits with the note that the stone for the temple was prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built (1 Kings 6:7). Saws, in other words, belonged to the careful preparation that made the house of God and the royal buildings worthy of their purpose.
David and the Ammonites
After the capture of Rabbah, the Ammonite capital, 2 Samuel 12:31 says that David brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns (ESV). The parallel in 1 Chronicles 20:3 is very similar. Older translations, following one reading of the Hebrew in Chronicles (wayyasar, he sawed), understood the text as a description of torture, with the people cut with saws. Most modern translations read both passages as forced labor: the Hebrew of Samuel (wayyasem, he set or put) fits this sense naturally, and the difference in Chronicles may be a single letter. Scholars remain divided, and honesty requires admitting the uncertainty. In either case, Scripture records the event without holding it up as a model.
3. Key passages
Isaiah 10:15 is the most important theological use of the saw. Assyria had been raised up as the rod of the Lord's anger against a godless nation (Isaiah 10:5-6), but the Assyrian king boasted that he had conquered by his own strength and wisdom (10:13-14). God answers with a series of questions: Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it. The tool has no power of its own; it only moves when the craftsman moves it. The same passage announces that the Lord will judge the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria (10:12).
1 Kings 7:9 shows the saw in service of beauty and order. God's people built with skill, and the Bible does not treat careful workmanship as unspiritual. The craftsmen of the tabernacle were filled with the Spirit of God for their work (Exodus 31:1-5), and the same spirit of excellence marks the building projects of Solomon.
2 Samuel 12:31 and 1 Chronicles 20:3 remind us that tools can serve the hard realities of war and subjugation. Whether the text describes forced labor or something harsher, it belongs to a period of David's life already darkened by his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah (2 Samuel 11-12). The narrative does not hide the harshness of those times.
Hebrews 11:37 lists among the heroes of faith those who were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. The author does not name who was sawn in two. An ancient Jewish tradition, later preserved in writings such as the Ascension of Isaiah and in the Talmud, holds that the prophet Isaiah was killed this way under King Manasseh, who filled Jerusalem with innocent blood (2 Kings 21:16). Early Christian writers such as Justin Martyr repeated this tradition. It is plausible and widely held, but it is not stated in Scripture, and it should be presented as tradition, not as biblical fact.
4. Theological significance
The first lesson is the sovereignty of God over his instruments. Isaiah's saw cannot claim credit for the wood it cuts. Nations, rulers and even God's servants are instruments in his hand, and any glory belongs to the one who wields them. Paul makes a similar point when he asks: what do you have that you did not receive? (1 Corinthians 4:7). Human pride, whether of empires or of individuals, forgets the hand that moves the tool.
The second lesson concerns work. The saw is an ordinary tool, and Scripture's matter-of-fact references to it show that manual labor, building and craftsmanship have their place in God's world. It is worth remembering, without forcing any symbolism, that the Son of God himself was known in Nazareth as the carpenter, or builder (Mark 6:3), and spent years working with his hands before his public ministry.
The third lesson is about suffering for the faith. Hebrews 11 does not end with triumphs only. Alongside those who conquered kingdoms and shut the mouths of lions are those who were tortured, mocked, imprisoned and sawn in two, people of whom the world was not worthy (Hebrews 11:33-38). Faith is not measured by visible success but by trust in God's promise, even unto death. And all of them, says the author, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect (11:39-40).
5. Legacy and canonical references
The saw appears only in the few passages mentioned, but its images have endured. Isaiah's question about the boastful tool has become a classic expression of God's lordship over history, often cited alongside Proverbs 21:1 and Daniel 4:34-35. The phrase sawn in two from Hebrews has shaped Christian memory of the prophets as martyrs, and it links the suffering of Old Testament believers to the endurance asked of Christians, who are called to run their race looking to Jesus, who endured the cross (Hebrews 12:1-2).
The descriptions of sawn stone in Solomon's buildings also help readers imagine the scale and quality of the royal projects in Jerusalem, and they are consistent with finds of finely dressed ashlar masonry from the monarchic period.
6. Application for today
Isaiah's saw invites humility. Whatever gifts, position or influence we have, we are tools in the hands of a greater Craftsman. When things go well, the right response is not to magnify ourselves against him but to give thanks. When we feel useless, we may remember that the value of a tool lies in the hand that holds it, and God delights to use ordinary instruments.
The sawn stones of Solomon encourage us to do our daily work with care. Whether in an office, a workshop, a classroom or a home, we can work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men (Colossians 3:23). Faithfulness in small, unseen tasks honors God.
And the martyrs of Hebrews 11:37 call us to endurance. Many believers today still suffer for Christ. Their example, and above all the example of Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, strengthens us not to grow weary or fainthearted (Hebrews 12:2-3). No suffering for his name is wasted, and the promise of a better resurrection (Hebrews 11:35) stands firm.