(מַגֵרָה , megerah, 2 Samuel 13:31; 1 Kings 7:9; 1 Chronicles 20:3; מִשּׂוֹר, massor, Isaiah 10:15; elsewhere גָּרִר, garar, in the Pual; πρίων and πρίζω ). The Hebrews knew and used not only wood saws, but stone saws also (1 Kings 7:9; comp. Pliny, 36, 29; 44, 48), both being of great antiquity (Rosellini, Monum. 2, 35). Prisoners of war, especially leaders and princes, were sometimes executed with iron saws (2 Samuel 12:31; 1 Chronicles 20:3; comp. Hebrews 11:37; and Sept. in Amos 1:3), and according to a tradition in the Anabaticon Jes. (ed. Lawrence, 5, 11-14), and in the Church fathers (Justin Martyr, Origen, Epiphanius, Lactantius), this fate befell the prophet Isaiah also, under King Manasseh (comp. Gesen. Jesa. 1, 12 sq.). This terrible punishment was also known in other ancient nations, e.g. the Egyptians (Herod. 2, 139), the Persians (Ctesias, Pers. 54; Rosenmü ller, Morgenl. 5, 96), the Thracians (Val. Max. 9:2, extr. 4). There were even some instances of it under the Roman emperors (Sueton. Calig. 27), inflicted on Jews (Dio Cass. 68, 32). (See CARPENTER).

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Ancient Egyptian saws, so far as has yet been discovered, were single handed, though Jerome has been thought to allude to circular saws. As is the case in modern Oriental saws, the teeth usually incline towards the handle instead of away from it, like ours. They have, in most cases, bronze blades apparently attached to the handles by leathern thongs, but some of those in the British Museum have their blades let into them like our knives. A double-handed iron saw has been found at Nimrû d; and double saws strained with a cord, such as modern carpenters use, were in use among the Romans. In sawing wood, the Egyptians placed the wood perpendicularly in a sort of frame and cut it downwards. No evidence exists of the use of the saw applied to stone in Egypt, nor without the double-handed saw does it seem likely that this should be the case; but we read of sawn stones used in the Temple (1 Kings 7:9; Gesen. Thesaur. p. 305; Wilkinson, Anc. Egyp. 2, 114, 119; Brit. Mus. Egyp. Room, No. 6046; Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 195; Jerome, Comm. in Is. 28, 27). The saws "under" or "in" which David is said to have placed his captives were of iron. The expression in 2 Samuel 12:31 does not necessarily imply torture, but the word "cut" in 1 Chronicles 20:3 can hardly be understood otherwise (Gesen. Thesaur. p. 1326; Thenius on 2 Sans. xii and 1 Chronicles xx). A case of sawing asunder, by placing the criminal between boards and then beginning at the head, is mentioned by Shaw, Trav. p. 254. (See HANDICRAFT).

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