Joel 3:10
in Joel 3Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
KJV
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
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This verse in Joel 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Beat your plowshares into swords - Peace had been already promised, as a blessing of the gospel. “In His days,” foretold Solomon, “shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth” Psa 72:7. And another, “He maketh thy borders peace” Psa 147:14. Peace within with God flows forth in peace with man. “Righteousness and peace kissed each other” Psa 85:10. Where there is not rest in God, all is unrest. And so, all which was needful for life, the means of subsistence, care of health, were to be forgotten for war.
This site's exposition
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles
on Joel 3:9-12
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles, prepare war deliberately inverts the plowshares oracle shared by Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3, beat your swords into plowshares, and your spears into pruninghooks, turning the vision of peace back into a summons to battle, the same reversal aimed at the nations that the earlier prophets aim toward Israel's own future. Let the weak say, I am strong is read by the older writers as either the nations' own false bravado marching to its own doom or an ironic command, the reading stated without settling which. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about names the valley's purpose plainly, a courtroom rather than merely a battlefield, the Lord himself seated as judge over every nation gathered.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Whoever is protected by these weapons is always defended from the enemy's spears and devastation and will not be led as a captive and a slave, bound in the chains of the ravagers, to the territory of hostile thoughts. Nor will he hear through the prophet, "Why have you grown old in a foreign land?"
(V. 9 et seq.) Cry out these things ((or: Cry out this)) among the nations: sanctify war, awaken the strong. Let all men of war come near and ascend. Convert your plows into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong.' Burst forth and come, all you nations around, and gather together, there the Lord will cause your strong ones ((or: his strong ones)) to fall. LXX: Proclaim these things ((or: Proclaim this)) among the nations: sanctify war, arouse fighters, bring and ascend all men of war.
The Medieval Church1 voice
"Beat your plowshares," that is, change your farm implements into weapons. In fact, after coming back from captivity, they would have been poor, but then they would have acquired wealth at the expense of the house of Gog.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
When the hour of God's judgment shall come effectual methods shall be taken to gather all nations to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, Rev. xvi. It seems to be here spoken ironically: " Proclaim you this among the Gentiles; let all the forces of the nations be summoned to join in confederacy against God and his people." It is like that, Isa. vii.
When God's cause is to be pleaded, either by the law or by the sword, he has those ready that shall please it effectually, witnesses ready to appear for him in the court of judgment, soldiers ready to appear for him in the field of battle. They shall beat ploughshares into swords, if need be. However, it is plain that to them the charge in given (
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1 more voice on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears,....
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּ֤תּוּ | kotu | beat | H3807 → | |
| אִתֵּיכֶם֙ | ʾiteikhem | plowshares your | H855 → | |
| לַֽחֲרָב֔וֹת | lacharavot | into swords | H2719 → | |
| וּמַזְמְרֹֽתֵיכֶ֖ם | umazmeroteikhem | and pruning knives your | H4211 → | |
| לִרְמָחִ֑ים | lirmachim | into spears | H7420 → | |
| הַֽחַלָּ֔שׁ | hachalash | the weak [man] | H2523 → | |
| יֹאמַ֖ר | yomar | let him say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| גִּבּ֥וֹר | gibor | [am] a warrior | H1368 → | 158 times |
| אָֽנִי׃ | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
כֹּ֤תּוּbeat
kotuH3807 →
אִתֵּיכֶם֙plowshares your
ʾiteikhemH855 →
לַֽחֲרָב֔וֹתinto swords
lacharavotH2719 →
וּמַזְמְרֹֽתֵיכֶ֖םand pruning knives your
umazmeroteikhemH4211 →
לִרְמָחִ֑יםinto spears
lirmachimH7420 →
הַֽחַלָּ֔שׁthe weak [man]
hachalashH2523 →
יֹאמַ֖רlet him say
yomarH559 →5305 times
גִּבּ֥וֹר[am] a warrior
giborH1368 →158 times
אָֽנִי׃I
ʾaniH589 →874 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 2:4Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against…
it leads to
- Hosea 2:18
On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Micah 4:3
Then He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for strong nations far and wide. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take…
- Isaiah 11:6–9
The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them.
- Zechariah 9:10
And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be broken. Then He will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend…
- Isaiah 60:17–18
Instead of bronze I will bring you gold; I will bring silver in place of iron, bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones. I will appoint peace as your governor and righteousness…
- Hosea 2:18
Through
Micah 4:3Then He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for strong nations far and wide. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take…
it leads to
- Isaiah 2:4
Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against…
- Joel 3:9–16
Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war; rouse the mighty men; let all the men of war advance and attack!
- Isaiah 2:4
Through
2 Chronicles 25:8Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has power to help and power to overthrow.”
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 14:11
Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on…
- 2 Chronicles 14:11
About Joel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOEL; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 7:5.8–9; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.