HAMMER

A tool used for pounding and driving; a mallet. Hammers were employed for driving in nails (Jer 10:4) and tent pins (Jg 4:21), in the quarrying operation for splitting stones by repeated pounding as well as in shaping and facing building stones (1Ki 6:7), and for shaping metal as in the making of idols.​—Isa 41:7; 44:12.

The various materials used for making hammerheads included stone, metal, and wood. Likely the hammer, or mallet, used by Jael to drive the tent pin into the temples of Sisera was made of wood.​—Jg 4:21; 5:26.

In a figurative sense the word of Jehovah’s judgment is compared to a forge hammer that smashes the crag. (Jer 23:29) Also, in Jehovah’s hand, Babylon was like a forge hammer, breaking nations and kingdoms in pieces.​—Jer 50:23; compare Jer 25:8, 9, 17-26.