1 Samuel 13:21
New International Version
The price was two-thirds of a shekel for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.

New Living Translation
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 or making the point of an ox goad.

English Standard Version
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.

Berean Standard Bible
The charge was a pim for sharpening a plowshare or mattock, a third of a shekel for sharpening a pitchfork or an axe, and a third of a shekel for repointing an oxgoad.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
and the charge for a sharpening was a pim for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads.

New American Standard Bible
The charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the cattle goads.

NASB 1995
The charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the hoes.

NASB 1977
And the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the hoes.

Legacy Standard Bible
And the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the goad.

Amplified Bible
The fee [for sharpening] was a pim (two-thirds of a shekel) for the plowshares, the picks, the pitchforks, and the axes, and to straighten the goads (cattle prods).

Christian Standard Bible
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.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
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 an oxgoad.

American Standard Version
yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to set the goads.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And there was a wide file for the sickle and for the spike and for the pickax and for the ax and for the repair of goads

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And it was near the time of vintage: and their tools were valued at three shekels for a plough-share, and there was the same rate for the axe and the sickle.

Douay-Rheims Bible
So that their shares, and their spades, and their forks, and their axes were blunt, even to the goad, which was to be mended.

English Revised Version
yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes; and to set the goads.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The price was a pim for plow blades and mattocks, and one-tenth of an ounce of silver to sharpen a mattock or set a metal point on a cattle-prod.

Good News Translation
the charge was one small coin for sharpening axes and for fixing goads, and two coins for sharpening plows or hoes.)

International Standard Version
The charge was one pin for plows, mattocks, three pronged forks, and axes, or for setting the goads.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the price of the filing was a pim for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks with three teeth, and for the axes; and to set the goads.

Literal Standard Version
and there has been the file for mattocks, and for coulters, and for three-pronged rakes, and for the axes, and to set up the goads.

Majority Standard Bible
The charge was a pim for sharpening a plowshare or mattock, a third of a shekel for sharpening a pitchfork or an axe, and a third of a shekel for repointing an oxgoad.

New American Bible
The price for the plowshares and mattocks was two thirds of a shekel, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the ox-goads.

NET Bible
They charged two-thirds of a shekel to sharpen plowshares and cutting instruments, and a third of a shekel to sharpen picks and axes, and to set ox goads.

New Revised Standard Version
The charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and one-third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads.

New Heart English Bible
and the charge was one payim for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and three shekels for picks and axes and to set the goads.

Webster's Bible Translation
Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the colters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.

World English Bible
The price was one payim each to sharpen mattocks, plowshares, pitchforks, axes, and goads.

Young's Literal Translation
and there hath been the file for mattocks, and for coulters, and for three-pronged rakes, and for the axes, and to set up the goads.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Israel Without Weapons
20Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles. 21The charge was a pim for sharpening a plowshare or mattock, a third of a shekel for sharpening a pitchfork or an axe, and a third of a shekel for repointing an oxgoad. 22So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hands of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons.…

Cross References
1 Samuel 13:20
Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles.

1 Samuel 13:22
So on the day of battle not a sword or spear could be found in the hands of the troops with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan had weapons.

Zechariah 13:8
And in all the land, declares the LORD, two-thirds will be cut off and perish, but a third will be left in it.


Treasury of Scripture

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.

a file [heb] a file with mouths

Jump to Previous
Axes Blades Blunted Charge Edge Edges Hoes Instruments Iron Mattocks Ploughs Plowshares Points Price Putting Rods Setting Sharpen Shekel Sickles Teeth Third Thirds Three Three-Pronged Two-Thirds
Jump to Next
Axes Blades Blunted Charge Edge Edges Hoes Instruments Iron Mattocks Ploughs Plowshares Points Price Putting Rods Setting Sharpen Shekel Sickles Teeth Third Thirds Three Three-Pronged Two-Thirds
1 Samuel 13
1. Saul's select band
3. He calls the Hebrews to Gilgal against the Philistines
5. The Philistines' great army
6. The distress of the Israelites
8. Saul, weary of staying for Samuel, sacrifices
11. Samuel reproves him
17. The three raiding parties of the Philistines
19. The policy of the Philistines, to allow no blacksmith in Israel














(21) Yet they had a file for the mattocks . . .--This translation, the sense of which is not very clear, is supported by the Targum and by many of the great Hebrew commentators--Rashi, for instance. Gesenius and the majority of modern scholars, however, render the word in the original translated "file" (p'tsirah) by "bluntness." The passage then would run: "And there was bluntness (or dulness) of edge to the mattocks; "or," so that bluntness of the edges occurred to the mattocks." "The forks" were probably an instrument with three prongs, like our trident.

And to sharpen the goads.--The words from "and there was bluntness," &c. (English Version, "they had a file"), down to "axes," form a parenthesis.

"This parenthesis indicates that the result of the burthensome necessity of going to the Philistines was that many tools became useless by dulness, so that even these poorer sort of arms did the Israelites not much service at the breaking out of the war."--Bunsen.

The LXX. read this 21st verse with considerable changes: "And the vintage was ready to be gathered, and the tools were three shekels to the tooth to sharpen], and to the axe and to the scythe there was the same rate" (or, as the Greek has been rendered," tools cost three shekels apiece [to sharpen]").

Verse 21. - A file. Margin, a file with mouths. The word only occurs here, and is translated a file on the authority of Rashi. Almost all modern commentators agree that it means bluntness, and that this verse should be joined on to the preceding, and the two be translated, "But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his sickle, and his ploughshare, and his axe, and his mattock, whenever the edges of the mattocks, and the ploughshares, and the forks, and the axes were blunt, and also to set (so the margin rightly) the goads." The Israelites were thus in a state of complete dependence upon the Philistines, even for carrying on their agriculture, and probably retained only the hill country, while their enemies were masters of the plains.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The charge
הַפְּצִ֣ירָה (hap·pə·ṣî·rāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 6477: Perhaps bluntness

was
וְֽהָיְתָ֞ה (wə·hā·yə·ṯāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

a pim
פִ֗ים (p̄îm)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6310: The mouth, edge, portion, side, according to

for the plowshares
לַמַּֽחֲרֵשֹׁת֙ (lam·ma·ḥă·rê·šōṯ)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 4281: A plowshare

and mattocks,
וְלָ֣אֵתִ֔ים (wə·lā·’ê·ṯîm)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 855: A hoe, other digging implement

and a third [of a pim]
וְלִשְׁלֹ֥שׁ (wə·liš·lōš)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Number - feminine singular construct
Strong's 7969: Three, third, thrice

for the pitchforks
קִלְּשׁ֖וֹן (qil·lə·šō·wn)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7053: Perhaps fine point

and axes
וּלְהַקַּרְדֻּמִּ֑ים (ū·lə·haq·qar·dum·mîm)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 7134: An axe

and for repointing
וּלְהַצִּ֖יב (ū·lə·haṣ·ṣîḇ)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct
Strong's 5324: To take one's stand, stand

an oxgoad.
הַדָּרְבָֽן׃ (had·dā·rə·ḇān)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1861: A goad


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OT History: 1 Samuel 13:21 Yet they had a file (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 13:20
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