The best rendering of the passage is perhaps as follows: But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen whenever there was blun…

To sharpen every man his share, and his coulter. —Porsenna, we read, in the time of the wars of the Republic, allowed the…

But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines
Were obliged to go into Palestine, into some one or other of the…

Consider how shrewd the Philistines were when they held power; they not only prevented the people of Israel from making weapons of war but also com…