Swords to ploughshares

Swords to ploughshares (or plowshares) is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications. The phrase originates from the Book of Isaiah chapter 2: Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the , to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. – The ploughshare (אֵת ’êṯ, also translated coulter) is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit humankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by the sword (חֶרֶב ḥereḇ), a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use. In addition to the original Biblical Messianic intent, the expression "beat swords into ploughshares" has been used by disparate social and political groups. A past example from the period 1993 continuing to 2013 is the dismantling of nuclear weapons and the use of their contents as fuel in civilian electric power stations, the Megatons to Megawatts Program. Nuclear fission development, originally accelerated for World War II weapons needs, has been applied to many civilian purposes since its use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including electricity and radiopharmaceutical production. Beyond the above usage in the Book of Isaiah, this analogy is used twice more in the Old Testament/Tanakh, in both directions: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.” He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.