Hebrew word · H855

אֵת

le'itim

plowshare

A farming tool for working the soil. Traditionally 'plowshare', meaning the iron point or tip fitted to a wooden scratch-plow (an ard). Some lexicons (HALOT) mark it uncertain and allow 'mattock' or 'hoe'.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

ploughshare

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 2:4

Range of meaning

A farming tool for working the soil. Traditionally 'plowshare', meaning the iron point or tip fitted to a wooden scratch-plow (an ard). Some lexicons (HALOT) mark it uncertain and allow 'mattock' or 'hoe'.

Against the English

'Plowshare' can make a modern reader picture a large curved steel plow blade. The ancient tool was a small iron point or tip on a wooden plow pulled by oxen, or possibly a hand hoe.

How it drifted

Modern farm equipment shapes the mental picture. The word itself was always about breaking ground.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Samuel 13:20–21 lists it among tools Israelites had to take to the Philistines to sharpen, since the Philistines controlled metalworking. Archaeologists have found Iron Age iron plow points in Israel and Judah.

From the study of Micah 4:3

Range of meaning

An iron farming blade. It is traditionally 'plowshare', the replaceable iron tip fitted to a wooden plow that cuts the furrow. Some scholars argue for a hoe or mattock. It appears in 1 Samuel 13:20–21 in a list of iron tools Israelites had sharpened by Philistine smiths.

Against the English

'Plowshare' is the traditional rendering and quite possibly right. 'Share' is the old English word for the cutting blade of a plow.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Samuel 13:20–21; Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:10. The LXX here has arotra, 'plows'. Excavated Iron Age plow tips are small iron points, a size well suited to being reforged from a sword blade.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 13:20 אֵתוֹ֙ mattock his

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

  2. 1 Samuel 13:21 וְלָ֣אֵתִ֔ים and for the mattocks

    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.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 2:4 לְאִתִּ֗ים <into> plowshares

    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 nation, nor train anymore for war.

    Here: A farm tool for breaking soil. It was probably the iron point fitted to a wooden plow, or possibly a mattock or hoe. The exact tool is uncertain, but it clearly belongs to field work.

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 3:10 אִתֵּיכֶם֙ plowshares your

    Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’

Micah · 1

  1. Micah 4:3 לְאִתִּ֗ים into plowshares

    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 up the sword against nation, nor will they train anymore for war.

    Here: An iron farming blade, probably the iron tip fitted to a wooden plow, or possibly a hoe or mattock. The exact tool is uncertain. Either way, the metal now breaks ground for grain.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.