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
107:37 They cultivated 4 fields,
and planted vineyards,
which yielded a harvest of fruit. 5
26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, 6 because the Lord blessed him. 7
26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred 8 in the days of Abraham. 9 Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
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 “sowed seed in.”
5 tn Heb “fruit [as] produce.”
6 tn Heb “a hundredfold.”
7 tn This final clause explains why Isaac had such a bountiful harvest.
8 tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”
9 sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.
10 tn The Hebrew construction uses the independent personal pronoun, followed by a suffixed form of הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) and the a participle used with an imminent future nuance: “As for me, look, I am going to bring.”
11 tn Heb “the flood, water.”
12 tn The verb שָׁחָת (shakhat, “to destroy”) is repeated yet again, only now in an infinitival form expressing the purpose of the flood.
13 tn The Hebrew construction here is different from the previous two; here it is רוּחַ חַיִּים (ruakh khayyim) rather than נֶפֶשׁ הַיָּה (nefesh khayyah) or נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (nishmat khayyim). It refers to everything that breathes.
14 tn The Hebrew verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive (picking up the future sense from the participles) from קוּם (qum, “to rise up”). This may refer to the confirmation or fulfillment of an earlier promise, but it is more likely that it anticipates the unconditional promise made to humankind following the flood (see Gen 9:9, 11, 17).
15 tn The perfect verb form with vav (ו) consecutive is best understood as specific future, continuing God’s description of what will happen (see vv. 17-18a).