Engine,
a term applied exclusively to military affairs in the Bible. The engines to which the term is applied in
were designed to propel various missiles from the walls of the besieged town. One, with which the Hebrews were acquainted, was the battering ram, described in
and still more precisely in
He made in Jerusalem engines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and on the battlements, with which to shoot arrows and great stones. His name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, until he was strong.
and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.
In his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build forts.
He shall set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers.