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Thing

Battering ram

Human-made Things in the Bible

The battering ram was a log or other long, heavy piece of wood covered on one end with metal. It was rammed by soldiers against the wall or gate of a city under siege. It sometimes had a point since the purpose of the ramming was to wedge a hole in the wall. Others were blunt on the end. Repeated banging on the wall weakened it and caused it to fall or opened a hole in it. After the ram had penetrated the wall, it would be levered back and forth until that section of the wall fell. It could be held and swung by soldiers, or sometimes it was suspended by ropes from a moveable wooden tower.

Pictures

A large wheeled Assyrian battering ram attacks the walls of a besieged city, while archers on both sides exchange arrows (Nimrud, about 865-860 BC; British Museum)
A large wheeled Assyrian battering ram attacks the walls of a besieged city, while archers on both sides exchange arrows (Nimrud, about 865-860 BC; British Museum)Chris0, British Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In the Bible

The Hebrew and Greek words for it, and every verse where each is used

חֶרֶב cherev · 1 verse

Word page ›

כַּר kar · 2 verses

Word page ›

קְבֹל qvol · 1 verse

Word page ›

ἑλεόπολις heleopolis · 2 verses
κριός krios · 1 verse

Also in Siege instruments

Siege wall12 versesSiege ramp, siege mound11 versesFiring platform, siege tower4 versesLadder1 verseFire thrower1 verseCatapult, ballista3 versesMantelet1 verse

Sources

Plants and Trees in the Bible, Animals in the Bible and Human-made Things in the Bible © United Bible Societies, 2025 (adapted from Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible by Robert Koops, All Creatures Great and Small: Living Things in the Bible by Edward R. Hope, and The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible by Ray Pritz), CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted for eRhema