¹⁹Not a blacksmith^m could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!ⁿ” ²⁰So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles^f sharpened. ²¹The price was two-thirds of a shekel^g for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel^h for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.

²²So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan^o had a sword or spear^p in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

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Footnotes

fSeptuagint; Hebrew plow points
gThat is, about 1/4 ounce or about 8 grams
hThat is, about 1/8 ounce or about 4 grams

Cross references

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears.” But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle, and the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads. So on the day of the battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and Jonathan his son had them.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

No blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise, the Hebrews will make swords or spears.” So all the Israelites went to the Philistines to sharpen their plows, mattocks, axes, and sickles. The price was two-thirds of a shekel for plows and mattocks, and one-third of a shekel for pitchforks and axes, and for putting a point on a cattle prod. So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hand of any of the troops who were with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons.

NLTNew Living Translation

There were no blacksmiths in the land of Israel in those days. The Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear they would make swords and spears for the Hebrews. So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, picks, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith. The charges were as follows: a quarter of an ounce of silver for sharpening a plowshare or a pick, and an eighth of an ounce for sharpening an ax, a sickle, or an ox goad. So on the day of the battle none of the people of Israel had a sword or spear, except for Saul and Jonathan.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Now no skilled craftsman could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “So that the Hebrews cannot make swords or spears for themselves.” So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to have his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his iron plowshare sharpened. The charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshare and for the mattock, and a third of a shekel for the pick and for the axe, and to set the goading sticks. So on the day of battle, there was not a sword or a spear found in the hands of all the army that was with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

KJV 1900King James Version

Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears: But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads. So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found.

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