This was not a form of capital punishment in the Old Testament. Ishbosheth was beheaded by his murderers that his head might be carried to David (2 Sam. 4:7-8); as Goliath’s head had been carried to Saul. In the New Testament John the Baptist was killed in the Roman manner of beheading with the sword (Matt. 14:10; Mark 6:16, 27; Luke 9:9). In Revelation 20:4, those “beheaded” for the witness of Jesus, may be killed in other ways, for the word πελεκίζω signifies “to cut with an ax,”‘ having no particular reference to the head.