Numbers 13:27

13:27 They told Moses, ¹  “We went to the land where you sent us. ²  It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, ³  and this is its fruit.

Numbers 14:7-8

14:7 They said to the whole community of the Israelites, “The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly ⁴  good land. 14:8 If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land that is flowing with milk and honey. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 6:10-11

Exhortation to Worship the Lord Exclusively

6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build, 6:11 houses filled with choice things you did not accumulate, hewn out cisterns you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – and you eat your fill,

Deuteronomy 6:18

6:18 Do whatever is proper ⁶  and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he ⁷  promised your ancestors,

Deuteronomy 8:7-9

8:7 For the Lord your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of brooks, ⁸  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 ⁹  in plenty and find no lack of anything, a land whose stones are iron ¹⁰  and from whose hills you can mine copper.

Deuteronomy 11:11-12

11:11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy ¹¹  is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, ¹²  11:12 a land the Lord your God looks after. ¹³  He is constantly attentive to it ¹⁴  from the beginning to the end of the year. ¹⁵ 

Nehemiah 9:25

9:25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took possession of houses full of all sorts of good things – wells previously dug, vineyards, olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate until they were full ¹⁶  and grew fat. They enjoyed to the full your great goodness.

Ezekiel 20:6

20:6 On that day I swore ¹⁷  to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out ¹⁸  for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, ¹⁹  the most beautiful of all lands.

¹ tn Heb “told him and said.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The relative clause modifies “the land.” It is constructed with the relative and the verb: “where you sent us.”

³ sn This is the common expression for the material abundance of the land (see further, F. C. Fensham, “An Ancient Tradition of the Fertility of Palestine,” PEQ 98 [1966]: 166-67).

⁴ tn The repetition of the adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od) is used to express this: “very, very [good].”

⁵ tn The subjective genitives “milk and honey” are symbols of the wealth of the land, second only to bread. Milk was a sign of such abundance (Gen 49:12; Isa 7:21,22). Because of the climate the milk would thicken quickly and become curds, eaten with bread or turned into butter. The honey mentioned here is the wild honey (see Deut 32:13; Judg 14:8-9). It signified sweetness, or the finer things of life (Ezek 3:3).

⁶ tn Heb “upright.”

⁷ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 17.

⁸ tn Or “wadis.”

⁹ 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).

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”

¹² tn Heb “rain of heaven.”

¹³ tn Heb “seeks.” The statement reflects the ancient belief that God (Baal in Canaanite thinking) directly controlled storms and rainfall.

¹⁴ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it” (so NIV); NASB, NRSV “always on it.”

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ tn Heb “they ate and were sated.” This expression is a hendiadys. The first verb retains its full verbal sense, while the second functions adverbially: “they ate and were filled” = “they ate until they were full.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”

¹⁸ tn Or “searched out.” The Hebrew word is used to describe the activity of the spies in “spying out” the land of Canaan (Num 13-14); cf. KJV “I had espied for them.”

¹⁹ sn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey,” a figure of speech describing the land’s abundant fertility, occurs in v. 15 as well as Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 27:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:23 (see also Deut 1:25; 8:7-9).