Daniel 1:16

1:16 So the warden removed the delicacies and the wine ¹  from their diet ²  and gave them a diet of vegetables instead.

Genesis 1:29-30

1:29 Then God said, “I now ³  give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ⁴  1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give ⁵  every green plant for food.” It was so.

Deuteronomy 8:3

8:3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. ⁶  He did this to teach you ⁷  that humankind ⁸  cannot live by bread ⁹  alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth. ¹⁰ 

Romans 14:2

14:2 One person believes in eating everything, but the weak person eats only vegetables.

¹ tn Heb “the wine of their drinking.”

² tn The words “from their diet” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

³ tn The text uses הִנֵּה (hinneh), often archaically translated “behold.” It is often used to express the dramatic present, the immediacy of an event – “Look, this is what I am doing!”

⁴ sn G. J. Wenham (Genesis [WBC], 1:34) points out that there is nothing in the passage that prohibits the man and the woman from eating meat. He suggests that eating meat came after the fall. Gen 9:3 may then ratify the postfall practice of eating meat rather than inaugurate the practice, as is often understood.

⁵ tn The phrase “I give” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁶ tn Heb “manna which you and your ancestors did not know.” By popular etymology the word “manna” comes from the Hebrew phrase מָן הוּא (man hu’), i.e., “What is it?” (Exod 16:15). The question remains unanswered to this very day. Elsewhere the material is said to be “white like coriander seed” with “a taste like honey cakes” (Exod 16:31; cf. Num 11:7). Modern attempts to associate it with various desert plants are unsuccessful for the text says it was a new thing and, furthermore, one that appeared and disappeared miraculously (Exod 16:21-27).

⁷ tn Heb “in order to make known to you.” In the Hebrew text this statement is subordinated to what precedes, resulting in a very long sentence in English. The translation makes this statement a separate sentence for stylistic reasons.

⁸ tn Heb “the man,” but in a generic sense, referring to the whole human race (“mankind” or “humankind”).

⁹ tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. CEV).

¹⁰ sn Jesus quoted this text to the devil in the midst of his forty-day fast to make the point that spiritual nourishment is incomparably more important than mere physical bread (Matt 4:4; cf. Luke 4:4).