Bible Dictionaries
Hew

Holman Bible Dictionary

To cut with blows from a heavy cutting instrument. The references to “hewers of wood” together with drawers of water (Joshua 9:21 ,Joshua 9:21,9:23 ,Joshua 9:23,9:27; Deuteronomy 29:11 ) probably refer to those who gathered firewood. Such work was a despised task relegated to foreigners and slaves. The “hewers that cut timber” (2 Chronicles 2:10; compare Jeremiah 46:22 ) were skilled lumberjacks. The “hewers of stone” (1 Kings 5:15 ) or “stonecutters” were royal servants mining rock from the mountains for royal building projects. Houses of “hewn stone” rather than rough stone were regarded as an extravagance (Amos 5:11 ).