1 Samuel 13:19

And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.”

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

▾

KJV

Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:

ASV

Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:

YLT

And an artificer is not found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, `Lest the Hebrews make sword or spear;'

DBT

Now there was no smith found throughout the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears.

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Commentary voices

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Voices5

On this verse

30. All these things are indeed described so that the manner of the victory that followed might be made clear. For armed men were conquered by the unarmed, so that everything that is overcome might be attributed to the praises of Almighty God. But if we pursue these things spiritually in our customary manner, we will not find them devoid of mysteries. What then does it mean when it says: "No blacksmith was found in Israel," except that for spiritual battles we are instructed not through secular letters but through divine ones?

Gregory the Dialogist· Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 3, 604patristic

Related commentary

Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel,....

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

There was no smith - This was the result of the fierce inroads described in the preceding verses, and the method adopted to make the Philistine conquests permanent.

Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

They put down all the smiths' shops, transplanted the smiths into their own country, and forbade any Israelite, under severe penalties, to exercise the trade or mystery of working in brass or iron, though they had rich mines of both ( Deut. viii. 9 ) in such plenty that it was said of Asher, his shoes shall be iron and brass, Deut. xxxiii.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

Saul was the son of one year (so the first words are in the original), a phrase which we make to signify the date of his reign, but ordinarily it signifies the date of one's birth, and therefore some understand it figuratively--he was as innocent and good as a child of a year old; so the Chaldee paraphrase: he was without fault, like the son of a year.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

Voices on this verse

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Rabbinic commentary

How the Hebraic tradition has read this verse — and Marcus Brown’s own reading of it.

Cross-references

16 linked verses

The verses this one reaches12

2 Kings 24:14
He carried into exile all Jerusalem—all the commanders and mighty men of valor, all the craftsmen and metalsmiths—ten thousand captives in all. Only the poorest people of the land remained.
Judges 5:8
When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.
Jeremiah 24:1
After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.
Judges 3:31
After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.
1 Chronicles 17:10
and have done since the day I appointed judges over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build a house for you.

Cross-references

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The quotation web

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Original language

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Around this verse

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

David Slays Goliath — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

1 Samuel — The transition from judges to monarchy. Samuel rises as prophet-judge; Israel demands a king; Saul rises and is rejected; David is anointed in obscurity and flees across the wilderness. Three lives overlapping — the prophetic-judicial-royal handoff.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Traditionally Samuel (with additions after his death by Nathan and Gad — cf. 1 Chr 29:29)
Date: Events c. 1050–1010 BC; compilation during the early monarchy

More cross-references4 further linked verses, grouped by book▾ open

Every other verse the study tradition links to this one, in the Bible’s own order. The first links in each book carry a line of their text; every reference opens its full verse page.

Psalms4

Cross-references are drawn from classic Bible study tools and open, shareable Bible data.

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Isaiah 54:16
Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.
leads to
- Proverbs 16:4
  The LORD has made everything for His purpose— even the wicked for the day of disaster.
- Exodus 9:16
  But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
Through
2 Kings 24:14
He carried into exile all Jerusalem—all the commanders and mighty men of valor, all the craftsmen and metalsmiths—ten thousand captives in all. Only the poorest people of the land remained.
leads to
- Jeremiah 52:28
  These are the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
- 2 Kings 25:12
  But the captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.
- 2 Kings 24:16
  The king of Babylon also brought into exile to Babylon all seven thousand men of valor and a thousand craftsmen and metalsmiths—all strong and fit for battle.
Through
Jeremiah 24:1
After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to…
leads to
- Jeremiah 29:2
  (This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had been exiled from Jerusalem.)
- 2 Chronicles 36:10
  In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and…
Through
Judges 5:8
When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.
leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:16–17
  They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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