1 Samuel 30:16

30:16 So he took David ¹  down, and they found them spread out over the land. They were eating and drinking and enjoying themselves because of all the loot ²  they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

1 Samuel 30:1

David Defeats the Amalekites

30:1 On the third day David and his men came to Ziklag. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They attacked Ziklag and burned it. ³ 

1 Samuel 12:1

12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done ⁴  everything you requested. ⁵  I have given you a king. ⁶ 

Job 1:18

1:18 While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

Psalms 72:3-7

72:3 The mountains will bring news of peace to the people,

and the hills will announce justice. ⁷ 

72:4 He will defend ⁸  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ⁹  the children ¹⁰  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

72:5 People will fear ¹¹  you ¹²  as long as the sun and moon remain in the sky,

for generation after generation. ¹³ 

72:6 He ¹⁴  will descend like rain on the mown grass, ¹⁵ 

like showers that drench ¹⁶  the earth. ¹⁷ 

72:7 During his days the godly will flourish; ¹⁸ 

peace will prevail as long as the moon remains in the sky. ¹⁹ 

Ecclesiastes 2:24

Enjoy Work and its Benefits

2:24 There is nothing better for ²⁰  people ²¹  than ²²  to eat and drink,

and to find enjoyment ²³  in their ²⁴  work.

I also perceived that this ability to find enjoyment ²⁵  comes from God. ²⁶ 

Isaiah 22:13

22:13 But look, there is outright celebration! ²⁷ 

You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,

eat meat and drink wine.

Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” ²⁸ 

Micah 4:4

4:4 Each will sit under his own grapevine

or under his own fig tree without any fear. ²⁹ 

The Lord who commands armies has decreed it. ³⁰ 

Zechariah 3:10

3:10 In that day,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘everyone will invite his friend to fellowship under his vine and under his fig tree.’” ³¹ 

Zechariah 9:15

9:15 The Lord who rules over all will guard them, and they will prevail and overcome with sling stones. Then they will drink, and will become noisy like drunkards, ³²  full like the sacrificial basin or like the corners of the altar. ³³ 

Acts 2:46

2:46 Every day ³⁴  they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, ³⁵  breaking bread from ³⁶  house to house, sharing their food with glad ³⁷  and humble hearts, ³⁸ 

[30:16]  ¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:16]  ² tn Heb “because of all the large plunder.”

[30:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”

[12:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Look, I have listened to your voice.”

[12:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “to all which you said to me.”

[12:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “and I have installed a king over you.”

[72:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “[the] mountains will bear peace to the people, and [the] hills with justice.” The personified mountains and hills probably represent messengers who will sweep over the land announcing the king’s just decrees and policies. See Isa 52:7 and C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 2:133.

[72:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sons.”

[72:5]  ¹¹ tn In this context “fear” probably means “to demonstrate respect for the Lord’s power and authority by worshiping him and obeying his commandments.” See Ps 33:8. Some interpreters, with the support of the LXX, prefer to read וְיַאֲרִיךְ (vÿ’a’arikh, “and he [the king in this case] will prolong [days]”), that is, “will live a long time” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[72:5]  ¹² tn God is the addressee (see vv. 1-2).

[72:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “with [the] sun, and before [the] moon [for] a generation, generations.” The rare expression דּוֹר דּוֹרִים (dor dorim, “generation, generations”) occurs only here, in Ps 102:24, and in Isa 51:8.

[72:6]  ¹⁴ tn That is, the king (see vv. 2, 4).

[72:6]  ¹⁵ tn The rare term zg refers to a sheep’s fleece in Deut 18:4 and Job 31:20, but to “mown” grass or crops here and in Amos 7:1.

[72:6]  ¹⁶ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to be an otherwise unattested noun. Many prefer to emend the form to a verb from the root זָרַף (zaraf). BHS in textual note b on this verse suggests a Hiphil imperfect, third masculine plural יַזְרִיפוּ (yazrifu), while HALOT 283 s.v. *זרף prefers a Pilpel perfect, third masculine plural זִרְזְפוּ (zirzÿfu). The translation assumes the latter.

[72:6]  ¹⁷ sn The imagery of this verse compares the blessings produced by the king’s reign to fructifying rains that cause the crops to grow.

[72:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sprout up,” like crops. This verse continues the metaphor of rain utilized in v. 6.

[72:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and [there will be an] abundance of peace until there is no more moon.”

[2:24]  ²⁰ tn The preposition בְּ (bet) on בָּאָדָם (ba’adam) has been taken in two ways: (1) locative with טוֹב (tov, “good”) in reference to man’s moral nature: “There is nothing [inherently] good in man.” (2) advantage with טוֹב (“good”) in reference to the enjoyment theme of 2:24-26: “There is nothing better for a man than…” (this assumes a comparative מִן, min, on מִשֶׁיֹּאכַל, misheyyo’khal); see text critical note on the word “than” below). The latter is preferred for two reasons: (1) The preposition בְּ is used with a similar idiom in 3:12 in collocation with the particle phrase אִם…כִּי (ki…’im, “except”): “There is nothing better…than to rejoice/be happy” (NASB, NIV). (2) The theme of 2:1-26 focuses on the futility of human toil, concluding that the only real reward that man has in his labor is to find enjoyment in it (e.g., 2:10, 24-26). The section says nothing about man’s inherent sinful nature.

[2:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “man.”

[2:24]  ²² tc The MT reads שֶׁיֹּאכַל (sheyyo’khal, “that he should eat”; Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from אָכַל, ’akhal, “to eat,” with relative pronoun שֶׁ, she, “that”). However, the variant textual tradition of מִשֶּׁיֹּאכַל (misheyyo’khal, “than he should eat” (comparative preposition מִן, min, “than” + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from אָכַל “to eat”) is reflected in the LXX, Coptic, Syriac, Aramaic Targum, Old Latin, and Jerome. The textual error, an example of haplography, arose from a single writing of מ (mem) from בָּאָדָם מִשֶּׁיֹּאכַל (ba’adam misheyyo’khal). The same idiom appears in the expanded form אִם…כִּי followed by טוֹב…אֵין (’en tov … ki ’im, “there is nothing better for man than …”) in Eccl 3:12; 8:15.

[2:24]  ²³ tn Heb “to cause his soul to see good.” The idiom רָאָה טוֹב (ra’ah tov, “to see good”) is a metonymy of association, meaning “to find enjoyment” (e.g., 3:13; 5:17; 6:6). In 3:12-13 and 5:17-18 it is in collocation and/or parallelism with בְּ (bet) + שָׂמַח (samakh, “to rejoice in,” or “to find satisfaction or pleasure in” something). Here, it is used in collocation with חוּשׁ (khush, “to enjoy”). The term נַפְשׁוֹ (nafsho, “his soul”) is a metonymy of part (i.e., soul) for the whole (i.e., whole person), e.g., Num 23:10; Judg 16:30; Pss 16:10; 35:13; 103:1 (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 640-41).

[2:24]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his.”

[2:24]  ²⁵ tn The phrase “ability to find enjoyment” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:24]  ²⁶ tn Heb “is from the hand of God.”

[22:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “happiness and joy.”

[22:13]  ²⁸ tn The prophet here quotes what the fatalistic people are saying. The introductory “you say” is supplied in the translation for clarification; the concluding verb “we die” makes it clear the people are speaking. The six verbs translated as imperatives are actually infinitives absolute, functioning here as finite verbs.

[4:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and there will be no one making [him] afraid.”

[4:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.”

[3:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “under the vine and under the fig tree,” with the Hebrew article used twice as a possessive pronoun (cf. NASB “his”). Some English translations render this as second person rather than third (NRSV “your vine”; cf. also NAB, NCV, TEV).

[9:15]  ³² tn Heb “they will drink and roar as with wine”; the LXX (followed here by NAB, NRSV) reads “they will drink blood like wine” (referring to a figurative “drinking” of the blood of their enemies).

[9:15]  ³³ sn The whole setting is eschatological as the intensely figurative language shows. The message is that the Lord will assume his triumphant reign over all the earth and will use his own redeemed and renewed people Israel to accomplish that work. The imagery of v. 15 is the eating and drinking of the flesh and blood of God’s enemies, that is, Israel’s complete mastery of them. Like those who drink too much wine, the Lord’s warriors will be satiated with the blood of their foes and will exult as though drunk.

[2:46]  ³⁴ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.

[2:46]  ³⁵ tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

[2:46]  ³⁶ tn Here κατά (kata) is used as a distributive (BDAG 512 s.v. B.1.d).

[2:46]  ³⁷ sn The term glad (Grk “gladness”) often refers to joy brought about by God’s saving acts (Luke 1:14, 44; also the related verb in 1:47; 10:21).

[2:46]  ³⁸ tn Grk “with gladness and humbleness of hearts.” It is best to understand καρδίας (kardias) as an attributed genitive, with the two nouns it modifies actually listing attributes of the genitive noun which is related to them.