104:15 as well as wine that makes people feel so good, 1
and so they can have oil to make their faces shine, 2
as well as food that sustains people’s lives. 3
10:19 Feasts 4 are made 5 for laughter,
and wine makes life merry, 6
but money is the answer 7 for everything.
24:11 They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; 8
all joy turns to sorrow; 9
celebrations disappear from the earth. 10
1 tn Heb “and wine [that] makes the heart of man happy.”
2 tn Heb “to make [the] face shine from oil.” The Hebrew verb צָהַל (tsahal, “to shine”) occurs only here in the OT. It appears to be an alternate form of צָהַר (tsahar), a derivative from צָהָרִים (tsaharim, “noon”).
3 tn Heb “and food [that] sustains the heart of man.”
4 tn Heb “bread.” The term לֶחֶם (lekhem) is used literally of “bread” and figuratively (i.e., by metonymy) for a “feast” (BDB 536–37 s.v. לֶחֶם). BDB suggests that עֹשִׂיה לֶחֶם (’osih lekhem) in Eccl 10:19 means “make a feast” (BDB 537 s.v. לֶחֶם 1.a). This obscure line has occasioned numerous proposals: “a feast is made for laughter” (KJV, ASV, NIV); “feasts are made for laughter” (NRSV); “men feast for merrymaking” (Moffatt); “men prepare a meal for enjoyment” (NASB); “the table has its pleasures” (NEB); “they [i.e., rulers of v. 16] make a banquet for revelry” (NJPS); “people prepare a banquet for enjoyment” (MLB); “for laughter they make bread and wine, that the living may feast” (Douay); “bread is made for laughter” (RSV); “bread [and oil] call forth merriment” (NAB).
5 tn The subject of the verb is not specified. When active verbs have an unspecified subject, they are often used in a passive sense: “Bread [feasts] are made….”
6 tn Heb “and wine gladdens life.”
7 tn Or “and [they think that] money is the answer for everything.”
8 tn Heb “[there is] an outcry over the wine in the streets.”
9 tn Heb “all joy turns to evening,” the darkness of evening symbolizing distress and sorrow.
10 tn Heb “the joy of the earth disappears.”
11 tn Grk “for this is my blood of the covenant that is poured out for many.” In order to avoid confusion about which is poured out, the translation supplies “blood” twice so that the following phrase clearly modifies “blood,” not “covenant.”
12 tc Although most witnesses read καινῆς (kainhs, “new”) here, this is evidently motivated by the parallel in Luke 22:20. Apart from the possibility of homoioteleuton, there is no good reason for the shorter reading to have arisen later on. But since it is found in such good and diverse witnesses (e.g., Ì37,45vid א B L Z Θ 0298vid 33 pc mae), the likelihood of homoioteleuton becomes rather remote.