Deuteronomy 8:7-10

8:7 For the Lord your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of brooks, ¹  springs, and fountains flowing forth in valleys and hills, 8:8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, of olive trees and honey, 8:9 a land where you may eat food ²  in plenty and find no lack of anything, a land whose stones are iron ³  and from whose hills you can mine copper. 8:10 You will eat your fill and then praise the Lord your God because of the good land he has given you.

Deuteronomy 11:12

11:12 a land the Lord your God looks after. ⁴  He is constantly attentive to it ⁵  from the beginning to the end of the year. ⁶ 

Daniel 8:9

8:9 From one of them came a small horn. ⁷  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ⁸ 

Daniel 11:41

11:41 Then he will enter the beautiful land. ⁹  Many ¹⁰  will fall, but these will escape: ¹¹  Edom, Moab, and the Ammonite leadership.

¹ tn Or “wadis.”

² tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. NASB, NCV, NLT) or “bread” in particular (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV).

³ sn A land whose stones are iron. Since iron deposits are few and far between in Palestine, the reference here is probably to iron ore found in mines as opposed to the meteorite iron more commonly known in that area.

⁴ tn Heb “seeks.” The statement reflects the ancient belief that God (Baal in Canaanite thinking) directly controlled storms and rainfall.

⁵ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it” (so NIV); NASB, NRSV “always on it.”

⁶ sn From the beginning to the end of the year. This refers to the agricultural year that was marked by the onset of the heavy rains, thus the autumn. See note on the phrase “the former and the latter rains” in v. 14.

⁷ sn This small horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who controlled the Seleucid kingdom from ca. 175-164 B.C. Antiochus was extremely hostile toward the Jews and persecuted them mercilessly.

⁸ sn The expression the beautiful land (Heb. הַצֶּבִי [hatsÿvi] = “the beauty”) is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel. Cf. 11:16, 41, where it is preceded by the word אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”).

⁹ sn The beautiful land is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel.

¹⁰ tn This can be understood as “many people” (cf. NRSV) or “many countries” (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

¹¹ tn Heb “be delivered from his hand.”