¹⁹ Not a blacksmith^(A) could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!^(B)” ²⁰ So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles^[a] sharpened. ²¹ The price was two-thirds of a shekel^[b] for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel^[c] for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads.

³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred,^(A) sixty or thirty times what was sown.