Sickle

The sickle was the primary harvesting tool of the ancient Near East, used to cut grain stalks at the base. Early sickles were made of flint blades set in a wooden or bone handle; by the Iron Age they were made of iron. Deuteronomy 16:9 stipulates: You shall begin to count the seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain — linking the harvest tool directly to the liturgical calendar. Deuteronomy 23:25 permitted gleaning grain by hand from a neighbor's field but forbade using a sickle.

The sickle became a powerful apocalyptic image. Joel 3:13 calls for the sickle to be put in, for the harvest is ripe, as a summons to divine judgment on the nations. Revelation 14:14–19 elaborates this into a vision of the Son of Man and angels wielding sharp sickles to harvest the earth at the final judgment — both a grain harvest and a vintage of the vine depicting the gathering of souls and the wrath of God.