60:6 God has spoken in his sanctuary: 1
“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem;
the Valley of Succoth I will measure off. 2
65:13 The meadows are clothed with sheep,
and the valleys are covered with grain.
They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.
84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley, 3
he provides a spring for them. 4
The rain 5 even covers it with pools of water. 6
108:7 God has spoken in his sanctuary: 7
“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem,
the valley of Succoth I will measure off. 8
1 tn Heb “in his holy place.”
2 sn Shechem stands for the territory west of the Jordan, the Valley of Succoth for the region east of the Jordan.
3 tn The translation assumes that the Hebrew phrase עֵמֶק הַבָּכָא (’emeq habbakha’) is the name of an otherwise unknown arid valley through which pilgrims to Jerusalem passed. The term בָּכָא (bakha’) may be the name of a particular type of plant or shrub that grew in this valley. O. Borowski (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 130) suggests it is the black mulberry. Some take the phrase as purely metaphorical and relate בָּכָא to the root בָּכָה (bakhah, “to weep”). In this case one might translate, “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction.”
4 tc The MT reads “a spring they make it,” but this makes little sense. Many medieval Hebrew
5 tn This rare word may refer to the early (or autumn) rains (see Joel 2:23).
6 tc The MT reads בְּרָכוֹת (bÿrakhot, “blessings”) but the preceding reference to a “spring” favors an emendation to בְּרֵכוֹת (bÿrekhot, “pools”).
5 tn Heb “in his holy place.”
6 sn Shechem stands for the territory west of the Jordan River; the valley of Succoth represents the region east of the Jordan.