¹⁹ At that time, there were no people in Israel who could use iron to make things. The Philistines had said, ‘We must not let the Hebrew people make swords and spears.’ ²⁰ So the Israelites had to ask the Philistines to mend their ploughs, axes, hoes and knives that they used on their farms. ²¹ The Israelites had to pay eight grams of silver for the Philistines to make each plough or hoe sharp again. They paid four grams of silver for each axe, knife or ox-goad.^[a]