Pruning Knife

A pruning knife was used to prune trees or vines. A pruning knife looks like a sickle. It is a curved metal knife attached to a long wooden shaft.

The pruning knife is used in the Bible as an image for a time of peace. The opposing image is the spear as an image of war.

In Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3, it is announced that swords will be hammered into ploughshares, and spears into pruning knives. This indicates that there will be a time of peace and justice.

On the other hand, Joel 3:10 is a call to go to war, “Hammer the points of your ploughs into swords and your pruning knives into spears”.