1SA 13:20; 1SA 13:21 presents a special problem to the translator, with a list of between five and seven different implements, depending on how the somewhat obscure Hebrew is interpreted. The following list is according to the translation order of RSV:
“Plowshare” (macharesheth): Some commentators have suggested that this first word in the list is a general term, meaning “tools for working the soil.” What follow would then be separate instruments, including the machareshah, which appears in Hebrew with exactly the same consonants, made different only by the vowel points. This interpretation is, however, far from certain.
“Mattock” (’eth): This possibly means “plowshare” (see Plow and plowshare), although ancient mattocks (a kind of hoe) have been found.
“Axe” (qardom): This is translated also by the Septuagint as “axe” (axinē in Greek). More precisely, it was probably an axe-like implement with a blade that was perpendicular to the handle. The implement served as a kind of hoe for loosening the soil or like an adze for shaping wood (see Axe, adze).
“Sickle” (machareshah): Here again RSV has followed the Septuagint in translating “sickle” (see Sickle). However, another ancient translator renders the word as a kind of small garden hoe used for loosening and weeding the soil, and this interpretation is preferred here (see Hoe).
“The charge was a pim” (haptsirah fim): See the discussion on pimPim
“A third of a shekel” (shlosh qilshon): Here again the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Many translations see this as a second (and lower) price for sharpening two of the smaller implements. This translation assumes that letters have been reversed in the Hebrew text (see Hebrew Old Testament Text Project [HOTTP]). A number of commentators and translators prefer to see here another kind of farming implement, a kind of three-pronged rake or fork on a wooden handle. If it was a rake, it was used to scrape together loose cuttings. However, more likely it was a fork, which would need its points sharpened from time to time. Such a fork was used to lift piles of cuttings.
“Goad” (darvan): See Goad.
The general point of this passage is that the Israelites were forced to take their blunt farming implements to the Philistines for sharpening. Where a language lacks equivalent words for several of the implements, a translation may express the idea with a general statement by rendering verses 20–21 as follows: “The Israelites had to go to the Philistines to have their iron farming tools sharpened. The price varied according to the tool.” Another possible model is “… to sharpen their iron farming tools which had become blunted. The price varied according to the tool.” See also the comments on this passage in A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, pages 267–269.