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1 Samuel 13:20

in 1 Samuel 13

Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock;

KJV

But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.

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This verse in 1 Samuel 13

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines - We find from this that they did not grant them as much as Porsenna did to the Romans; he permitted the people to manufacture the implements of husbandry.

This site's exposition

no smith found throughout all the land

on 1 Samuel 13:19-21

The Philistines' fear is stated as policy, lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears, and the older commentators read it as a deliberate embargo, smiths transplanted and the trade forbidden under penalty though Israel's own hills held iron and brass in plenty. Every plowshare, mattock, axe and goad in Israel had to be carried down to a Philistine smith even to be sharpened, and the file of verse 21 is the one edge tool the text allows an Israelite to keep in his own hand. The monopoly explains what verse 22 states outright, and it is the same disarmed nation standing behind both Jonathan's exploit in the next chapter and David's unarmed answer to Goliath in the seventeenth.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Sulpicius Severus

SACRED HISTORY 1.33 · Written before 425.

proposed

For, as a result of the king's sin [Saul's offering of the sacrifice], fear had pervaded the whole army. The camp of the enemy, which was lying at no great distance, showed them how real the danger was, and no one had the courage to …

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 3 · Written before 604.

proposed

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?

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

Therefore all Israel descended to the Philistines, etc. And today, some descend, leaving behind the elevation of the word of God, to which they ought to have ascended to hear, and they listen to worldly fables and doctrines of demons, and by reading philosophers, rhetoricians, …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), and no doubt the Philistines' smiths brought the Israelites long bills for work done. (2.) How impolitic Saul was, that did not, in the beginning of his reign, set himself to redress this grievance.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

2 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

The best rendering of the passage is perhaps as follows: “But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen etc. 1Sa 13:21, whenever there was bluntness of edge to their shares and coulters and prong-forks and axes, and to point their goads.” Coulters and mattocks were cutting instruments of the type of the share.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֵּרְד֥וּand they went down

    vaiyereduH3381 →381 times

  • כָל־all

    khol-H3605 →5413 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֑יםthe Philistines

    hapelishtimH6430 →287 times

  • לִ֠לְטוֹשׁto sharpen

    liltooshH3913 →

  • אִ֣ישׁeach man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • מַחֲרַשְׁתּ֤וֹplowshare his

    macharashtoH4281 →3 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • אֵתוֹ֙mattock his

    ʾetoH855 →

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • קַרְדֻּמּ֔וֹaxe his

    kardumoH7134 →

  • וְאֵ֖תand <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • מַחֲרֵשָׁתֽוֹ׃plowshare his

    machareshatoH4281 →3 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

David Slays Goliath, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
David Slays Goliath, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 13 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Sulpicius Severus, SACRED HISTORY 1.33.

Read on in 1 Samuel 13 →