Matthew 26:52
Matthew 26:5252“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
is one of the Watchtower's primary proof-texts against armed employment and military service. Jesus' words "all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword" are read as a categorical condemnation of weapons, supporting the JW prohibition on police, armed-security, and military careers, and (since 2017) a strong discouragement of even personal handgun ownership for protection.
Jesus' rebuke is spoken to Peter, who has just drawn a sword and attacked a member of the lawful arresting party in Gethsemane. Jesus then heals the wounded man and submits to arrest. The rebuke targets vigilante intervention against God's redemptive plan, not the office of the sword-bearer generally. Read alongside — where, only a few hours earlier, Jesus instructs the disciples to buy swords — the verses harmonise only if the rebuke is against private vengeance, not against lawful armed service. authorises the magistrate to bear the sword as God's servant; institutes judicial execution. The categorical reading collapses against the texts that frame and follow it.