1 Samuel 13:21: A Review of Will Kinney’s Claims

The KJVO Claim

Will Kinney suggests that 1 Samuel 13:21 causes confusion among those of us who prefer the modern versions. His claim is that the KJV uses the word “file” in this passage and that the modern versions create confusion by using “two-thirds of a shekel.”

Here is a quick comparison/contrast of the versions:

• KJV: 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.
• NIV: The price was two thirds of a shekel for sharpening plowshares and mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.
• NKJV: …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.
• ESV: …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.

Why do the modern versions, including the New King James Version, read differently?

A PiM or a “file”?

The KJV translates this Hebrew passage as "…they had a file…" The translators are following the Targums and Syriac Versions for their understanding of this term. The reason is that before the 1900s, a “PiM” was unknown. Even Hebrew scribes centuries ago were unfamiliar with this weight. Therefore, this was considered a “dubious” Hebrew word and best guesses were made as to the meaning of the term. Since this is the only place in the Old Testament that this term was used, the only clues were the context of the passage and a similar looking, but very different word meaning “to make wide (some say ‘mouth’)” made best sense. The problem is that the word PiM is NOT (and cannot be) the plural for the word "mouth" (PeH) as Kinney suggests (following the KJV marginal note). This verse has been problematic for that very reason. Besides, there is another perfectly fine, common word for "file" (?araqa).

Through archeological digs in the early 1900s where the Philistines once lived, many stones were found with the word “PiM” written on them. This is a stone that was used on scales to determine the value of objects/services. This weight was two-thirds the weight of a full shekel. For this reason, until the beginning of the 1900s, this word was obscure and no one knew what it really meant.

For More Information

• Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: 1766b
• International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Volume 4, pg. 1053 “Weights and Measurements” I.D.6.
• Wikipedia, PIM_weight
• Jou?on, P., & Muraoka, T. (2006). A grammar of biblical Hebrew. §98e footnote 4.