126:5 Those who shed tears as they plant
will shout for joy when they reap the harvest. 3
126:6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag 4 of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain. 5
11:6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and do not stop working 6 until the evening; 7
for you do not know which activity 8 will succeed 9 –
whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally. 10
32:20 you will be blessed,
you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams, 11
you who let your ox and donkey graze. 12
1 tn Or “is not mocked,” “will not be ridiculed” (L&N 33.409). BDAG 660 s.v. μυκτηρίζω has “of God οὐ μ. he is not to be mocked, treated w. contempt, perh. outwitted Gal 6:7.”
2 tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense, referring to both men and women.
3 sn O. Borowski says regarding this passage: “The dependence on rain for watering plants, the uncertainty of the quantity and timing of the rains, and the possibility of crop failure due to pests and diseases appear to have kept the farmer in a gloomy mood during sowing” (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 54). Perhaps the people were experiencing a literal drought, the effects of which cause them to lament their plight as they plant their seed in hopes that the rain would come. However, most take the language as metaphorical. Like a farmer sowing his seed, the covenant community was enduring hardship as they waited for a new outpouring of divine blessing. Yet they are confident that a time of restoration will come and relieve their anxiety, just as the harvest brings relief and joy to the farmer.
4 tn The noun occurs only here and in Job 28:18 in the OT. See HALOT 646 s.v. I מֶשֶׁךְ which gives “leather pouch” as the meaning.
5 tn The Hebrew noun אֲלֻמָּה (’alummah, “sheaf”) occurs only here and in Gen 37:7 in the OT.
6 tn Heb “do not let your hand rest.” The Hebrew phrase “do not let your hand rest” is an idiom that means “do not stop working” or “do not be idle” (e.g., Eccl 7:18); cf. BDB 628 s.v. נוּחַ B.1. Several English versions capture the sense of the idiom well: “do not stop working” (NEB); “do not be idle” (MLB); “let not your hand be idle” (NAB); “let not your hands be idle” (NIV); “stay not your hand” (Moffatt). The term “hand” is a synecdoche of part (i.e., do not let your hand rest) for the whole person (i.e., do not allow yourself to stop working).
7 tn The terms “morning” (בֹּקֶר, boqer) and “evening” (עֶרֶב, ’erev) form a merism (a figure of speech using two polar extremes to include everything in between) that connotes “from morning until evening.” The point is not that the farmer should plant at two times in the day (morning and evening), but that he should plant all day long (from morning until evening). This merism is reflected in several translations: “in the morning…until evening” (NEB, Moffatt).
8 tn The term “activity” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.
9 tn The verb כָּשֵׁר (kasher, “to prosper”) is used metonymically to denote “will succeed.” In 11:10, it means “skill in work.”
10 tn Or “together.”
11 tn Heb “by all the waters.”
12 tn Heb “who set free the foot of the ox and donkey”; NIV “letting your cattle and donkeys range free.”
13 tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.
14 tn Grk “is sown.”
15 tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”