Deuteronomy 11:11-12

11:11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy ¹  is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, ²  11:12 a land the Lord your God looks after. ³  He is constantly attentive to it ⁴  from the beginning to the end of the year. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 32:2

32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain,

my sayings will drip like the dew, ⁶ 

as rain drops upon the grass,

and showers upon new growth.

Deuteronomy 33:13

Blessing on Joseph

33:13 Of Joseph he said:

May the Lord bless his land

with the harvest produced by the sky, ⁷  by the dew,

and by the depths crouching beneath;

Deuteronomy 33:28

33:28 Israel lives in safety,

the fountain of Jacob is quite secure, ⁸ 

in a land of grain and new wine;

indeed, its heavens ⁹  rain down dew. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 33:2

33:2 He said:

A Historical Review

The Lord came from Sinai

and revealed himself ¹¹  to Israel ¹²  from Seir.

He appeared in splendor ¹³  from Mount Paran,

and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. ¹⁴ 

With his right hand he gave a fiery law ¹⁵  to them.

Deuteronomy 1:21

1:21 Look, he ¹⁶  has placed the land in front of you! ¹⁷  Go up, take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged!”

Deuteronomy 1:1

The Covenant Setting

1:1 This is what ¹⁸  Moses said to the assembly of Israel ¹⁹  in the Transjordanian ²⁰  wastelands, the arid country opposite ²¹  Suph, ²²  between ²³  Paran ²⁴  and Tophel, ²⁵  Laban, ²⁶  Hazeroth, ²⁷  and Di Zahab ²⁸ 

Deuteronomy 17:1

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ²⁹  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ³⁰  to the Lord your God.

Psalms 65:9-13

65:9 You visit the earth and give it rain; ³¹ 

you make it rich and fertile ³² 

with overflowing streams full of water. ³³ 

You provide grain for them, ³⁴ 

for you prepare the earth to yield its crops. ³⁵ 

65:10 You saturate ³⁶  its furrows,

and soak ³⁷  its plowed ground. ³⁸ 

With rain showers you soften its soil, ³⁹ 

and make its crops grow. ⁴⁰ 

65:11 You crown the year with your good blessings, ⁴¹ 

and you leave abundance in your wake. ⁴² 

65:12 The pastures in the wilderness glisten with moisture, ⁴³ 

and the hills are clothed with joy. ⁴⁴ 

65:13 The meadows are clothed with sheep,

and the valleys are covered with grain.

They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.

Psalms 133:3

133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon, ⁴⁵ 

which flows down upon the hills of Zion. ⁴⁶ 

Indeed ⁴⁷  that is where the Lord has decreed

a blessing will be available – eternal life. ⁴⁸ 

Isaiah 45:8

45:8 O sky, rain down from above!

Let the clouds send down showers ⁴⁹  of deliverance!

Let the earth absorb it ⁵⁰  so salvation may grow, ⁵¹ 

and deliverance may sprout up ⁵²  along with it.

I, the Lord, create it. ⁵³ 

Jeremiah 14:22

14:22 Do any of the worthless idols ⁵⁴  of the nations cause rain to fall?

Do the skies themselves send showers?

Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? ⁵⁵ 

So we put our hopes in you ⁵⁶ 

because you alone do all this.”

Hosea 14:5-7

14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel;

he will blossom like a lily,

he will send down his roots like a cedar of ⁵⁷  Lebanon.

14:6 His young shoots will grow;

his splendor will be like an olive tree,

his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

14:7 People will reside again ⁵⁸  in his shade;

they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. ⁵⁹ 

They will blossom like a vine,

and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

Micah 5:7

5:7 Those survivors from ⁶⁰  Jacob will live ⁶¹ 

in the midst of many nations. ⁶² 

They will be like the dew the Lord sends,

like the rain on the grass,

that does not hope for men to come

or wait around for humans to arrive. ⁶³ 

Hebrews 11:20

11:20 By faith also Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.

[11:11]  ¹ tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”

[11:11]  ² tn Heb “rain of heaven.”

[11:12]  ³ tn Heb “seeks.” The statement reflects the ancient belief that God (Baal in Canaanite thinking) directly controlled storms and rainfall.

[11:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it” (so NIV); NASB, NRSV “always on it.”

[11:12]  ⁵ 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.

[32:2]  ⁶ tn Or “mist,” “light drizzle.” In some contexts the term appears to refer to light rain, rather than dew.

[33:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the harvest of the heavens.” The referent appears to be good crops produced by the rain that falls from the sky.

[33:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “all alone.” The idea is that such vital resources as water will some day no longer need protection because God will provide security.

[33:28]  ⁹ tn Or “skies.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[33:28]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps “drizzle, showers.” See note at Deut 32:2.

[33:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “rose like the sun” (NCV, TEV).

[33:2]  ¹² tc Heb “to him.” The LXX reads “to us” (לָנוּ [lanu] for לָמוֹ [lamo]), the reading of the MT is acceptable since it no doubt has in mind Israel as a collective singular.

[33:2]  ¹³ tn Or “he shone forth” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[33:2]  ¹⁴ tc With slight alteration (מִמְרִבַת קָדֵשׁ [mimrivat qadesh] for the MT’s מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ [merivvot qodesh]) the translation would be “from Meribah Kadesh” (cf. NAB, NLT; see Deut 32:51). However, the language of holy war in the immediate context favors the reading of the MT, which views the Lord as accompanied by angelic hosts.

[33:2]  ¹⁵ tc The mispointed Hebrew term אֵשְׁדָּת (’eshdat) should perhaps be construed as אֵשְׁהַת (’eshhat) with Smr.

[1:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid repetition.

[1:21]  ¹⁷ tn Or “has given you the land” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[1:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “These are the words.”

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to all Israel.”

[1:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “on the other side of the Jordan.” This would appear to favor authorship by someone living on the west side of the Jordan, that is, in Canaan, whereas the biblical tradition locates Moses on the east side (cf. v. 5). However the Hebrew phrase בְּעֵבֶר הַיּרְדֵּן (bÿ’ever hayyrÿden) is a frozen form meaning “Transjordan,” a name appropriate from any geographical vantage point. To this day, one standing east of the Jordan can describe himself as being in Transjordan.

[1:1]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term מוֹל (mol) may also mean “in front of” or “near” (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[1:1]  ²² sn This place is otherwise unattested and its location is unknown. Perhaps it is Khirbet Sufah, 4 mi (6 km) SSE of Madaba, Jordan.

[1:1]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term בֵּין (ben) may suggest “in the area of.”

[1:1]  ²⁴ sn Paran is the well-known desert area between Mount Sinai and Kadesh Barnea (cf. Num 10:12; 12:16).

[1:1]  ²⁵ sn Tophel refers possibly to et£-T£afîleh, 15 mi (25 km) SE of the Dead Sea, or to Da‚bîlu, another name for Paran. See H. Cazelles, “Tophel (Deut. 1:1),” VT 9 (1959): 412-15.

[1:1]  ²⁶ sn Laban. Perhaps this refers to Libnah (Num 33:20).

[1:1]  ²⁷ sn Hazeroth. This probably refers to àAin Khadra. See Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 199-200.

[1:1]  ²⁸ sn Di Zahab. Perhaps this refers to Mina al-Dhahab on the eastern Sinai coast.

[17:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[17:1]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[65:9]  ³¹ tn The verb form is a Polel from שׁוּק (shuq, “be abundant”), a verb which appears only here and in Joel 2:24 and 3:13, where it is used in the Hiphil stem and means “overflow.”

[65:9]  ³² tn Heb “you greatly enrich it.”

[65:9]  ³³ tn Heb “[with] a channel of God full of water.” The divine name is probably used here in a superlative sense to depict a very deep stream (“a stream fit for God,” as it were).

[65:9]  ³⁴ tn The pronoun apparently refers to the people of the earth, mentioned in v. 8.

[65:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “for thus [referring to the provision of rain described in the first half of the verse] you prepare it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix attached to the verb “prepare” refers back to the “earth,” which is a feminine noun with regard to grammatical form.

[65:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “saturating” [the form is an infinitive absolute].

[65:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “flatten, cause to sink.”

[65:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “trenches,” or “furrows.”

[65:10]  ³⁹ tn Heb “soften it,” that is, the earth.

[65:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “its vegetation you bless.” Divine “blessing” often involves endowing an object with special power or capacity.

[65:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “your good,” which refers here to agricultural blessings.

[65:11]  ⁴² tn Heb “and your paths drip with abundance.”

[65:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “drip.”

[65:12]  ⁴⁴ tn That is, with rich vegetation that brings joy to those who see it.

[133:3]  ⁴⁵ sn Hermon refers to Mount Hermon, located north of Israel.

[133:3]  ⁴⁶ sn The hills of Zion are those surrounding Zion (see Pss 87:1; 125:2). The psalmist does not intend to suggest that the dew from Mt. Hermon in the distant north actually flows down upon Zion. His point is that the same kind of heavy dew that replenishes Hermon may also be seen on Zion’s hills. See A. Cohen, Psalms (SoBB), 439. “Dew” here symbolizes divine blessing, as the next line suggests.

[133:3]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “for.”

[133:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forever.”

[45:8]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “let the clouds drip with”; KJV “let the skies pour down.”

[45:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “open up” (so NASB); NIV, NLT “open wide.”

[45:8]  ⁵¹ tc The plural verb should be emended to a singular form. The vav (ו) ending is probably virtually dittographic (note the yod at the beginning of the following word).

[45:8]  ⁵² tc The Hiphil verb form (תַצְמִיחַ, tatsmiakh) should probably be emended to a Qal (תִצְמַח, titsmakh). The יח sequence at the end of the form is probably due to dittography (note the following יַחַד, yakhad).

[45:8]  ⁵³ tn The masculine singular pronominal suffix probably refers back to יָשַׁע (yasha’, “salvation”).

[14:22]  ⁵⁴ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel), often translated “vanities”, is a common pejorative epithet for idols or false gods. See already in 8:19 and 10:8.

[14:22]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “Is it not you, O Lord our God?” The words “who does” are supplied in the translation for English style.

[14:22]  ⁵⁶ tn The rhetorical negatives are balanced by a rhetorical positive.

[14:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “like Lebanon” (so KJV; also in the following verse). The phrase “a cedar of” does not appear in the Hebrew text; it is supplied in translation for clarity. Cf. TEV “the trees of Lebanon”; NRSV “the forests of Lebanon.”

[14:7]  ⁵⁸ tn Hosea uses the similar-sounding terms יָשֻׁבוּ יֹשְׁבֵי (yashuvu yoshve, “the dwellers will return”) to create a wordplay between the roots שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”) and יָשַׁב (yashav, “to dwell; to reside”).

[14:7]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “they will cause the grain to live” or “they will revive the grain.” Some English versions treat this as a comparison: “they shall revive as the corn” (KJV); “will flourish like the grain” (NIV).

[5:7]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “the remnant of” (also in v. 8).

[5:7]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “will be.”

[5:7]  ⁶² tn This could mean “(scattered) among the nations” (cf. CEV, NLT) or “surrounded by many nations” (cf. NRSV).

[5:7]  ⁶³ tn Heb “that does not hope for man, and does not wait for the sons of men.”