This noun designates a knife or cutting instrument, appearing in contexts of sacrifice and violent dismemberment. Abraham took 'the knife' to slay Isaac in the Akedah, the defining moment of his faith. The Levite who found his concubine dead took 'a knife' to divide her body into twelve pieces, sending them throughout Israel as a horrifying summons to justice. Proverbs warns of the wicked whose teeth are like 'knives' devouring the poor. The term emphasizes the instrument's cutting function.