hū´ẽr ( חטב , ḥōṭēbh ): Applies especially to a wood-worker or wood-gatherer (compare Arabic ḥaṭṭāb , "a woodman") ( Joshua 9:21 , Joshua 9:23 , Joshua 9:17; 2 Chronicles 2:10; Jeremiah 46:22 ). Gathering wood, like drawing water, was a menial task. Special servants were assigned to the work (Deuteronomy 29:11 ). Joshua set the Gibeonites to hewing wood and drawing water as a punishment for their trickery, whereas were it not for the oath which the Israelites had sworn, the Gibeonites would probably have been killed. See DRAWER OF WATER . חצב , ḥācbh , from the root "to cut" or "to carve," applies to hewers of stone in 1 Kings 5:15; 2 Kings 12:12; 1 Chronicles 22:15; 2 Chronicles 2:18 .
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source-manifest/isbe— ISBE (PD)