Cut

CUT, CUTTING (כָּרַת, H4162, meaning to cut, to cut off, etc.; one of several roots with these meanings). The roots so rendered in the English versions are used both literally and figuratively in a variety of circumstances.

Literal, life-circumstance usage

Figurative, relational usage

Precaution was to be taken that a tribe should not become extinct or not “cut off” from the other tribes (Num 4:18; RSV, “be destroyed”); Joshua succeeded in defeating (“cutting off”) the peoples from the Jordan to the Great Sea (Josh 23:4); the people of Israel were warned that disobedience would result in being “cut off” from their land (1 Kings 9:7); the peoples and their images around Israel were to be “cut off” or destroyed as a result of God’s acts of judgment against them (Isa 14:22; Mic 5:10-13; Nah 1:14; Zeph 1:4; Zech 9:6 KJV).

A specific, punitive usage

Certain passages in Leviticus specify that a person guilty of breaching particular Mosaic law|Mosaic laws shall be “cut off from among his people”: the person guilty of eating blood (Lev 17:10); the person guilty of giving his child to Molech (20:3, 5); the person guilty of giving himself to Medium|mediums and Wizard|wizards (20:6).

A particular, prohibitive usage

Additional Material

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

Charosheth, "carving," "engraving," is used for the cutting of stones (Ex 31:5; 35:33).

In the New Testament we have apokopto "to cut away" (Mr 9:43,15; Ga 5:12 the King James Version; see Concision); diaprio, "to saw through" (Ac 5:33, "they were cut to the heart"); dichotomeo, "to cut in two" (Mt 24:51); suntemno, "to cut together" (Ro 9:28), "finishing it and cutting it short," i. e; "making it conclusive and brief."