Bible Strands
1 Samuel 13:21
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records a logistical detail during Saul’s reign as the Israelite army prepares for imminent Philistine warfare. The passage specifies the exact fees charged by Philistine smiths while the troops sharpen their tools.
The words — The term פִּים (pim) denotes a weight or charge equivalent to two thirds of a shekel, while קִלְשׁוֹן (qilshon) refers to the prong or fork of a tool. These terms quantify the precise monetary cost for maintaining agricultural and woodworking implements.
The thread — The dependence on foreign metalworkers appears in Jeremiah 27:9-10, where prophets warn against trusting nations that control iron and silver. The logistical gap is immediately noted in 1 Samuel 13:22, which records that no sword or spear remained in the troops’ hands on the day of battle.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of how economic control can strip a community of its capacity for self-defense. It requires the reader to see the direct link between tool maintenance, weapon scarcity, and military vulnerability.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.