Genesis 1:29-30

1:29 Then God said, “I now ¹  give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ²  1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give ³  every green plant for food.” It was so.

Genesis 3:17-19

3:17 But to Adam ⁴  he said,

“Because you obeyed ⁵  your wife

and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,

‘You must not eat from it,’

cursed is the ground ⁶  thanks to you; ⁷ 

in painful toil you will eat ⁸  of it all the days of your life.

3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

but you will eat the grain ⁹  of the field.

3:19 By the sweat of your brow ¹⁰  you will eat food

until you return to the ground, ¹¹ 

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” ¹² 

Psalms 104:14-15

104:14 He provides grass ¹³  for the cattle,

and crops for people to cultivate, ¹⁴ 

so they can produce food from the ground, ¹⁵ 

104:15 as well as wine that makes people feel so good, ¹⁶ 

and so they can have oil to make their faces shine, ¹⁷ 

as well as food that sustains people’s lives. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 115:16

115:16 The heavens belong to the Lord, ¹⁹ 

but the earth he has given to mankind. ²⁰ 

Proverbs 13:23

13:23 There is abundant food in the field ²¹  of the poor,

but it is swept away by injustice. ²² 

Proverbs 27:23-27

27:23 Pay careful attention to ²³  the condition of your flocks, ²⁴ 

give careful attention ²⁵  to your herds,

27:24 for riches do not last ²⁶  forever,

nor does a crown last ²⁷  from generation to generation.

27:25 When the hay is removed and new grass appears,

and the grass from the hills is gathered in,

27:26 the lambs will be for your clothing,

and the goats will be for the price of a field. ²⁸ 

27:27 And there will be enough goat’s milk for your food, ²⁹ 

for the food of your household,

and for the sustenance ³⁰  of your servant girls.

Proverbs 28:19

28:19 The one who works his land will be satisfied with food, ³¹ 

but whoever chases daydreams ³²  will have his fill ³³  of poverty.

Jeremiah 40:10-12

40:10 I for my part will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians ³⁴  whenever they come to us. You for your part go ahead and harvest the wine, the dates, the figs, ³⁵  and the olive oil, and store them in jars. Go ahead and settle down in the towns that you have taken over.” ³⁶  40:11 Moreover, all the Judeans who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and all the other countries heard what had happened. They heard that the king of Babylon had allowed some people to stay in Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern them. 40:12 So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs. ³⁷ 

[1:29]  ¹ tn The text uses הִנֵּה (hinneh), often archaically translated “behold.” It is often used to express the dramatic present, the immediacy of an event – “Look, this is what I am doing!”

[1:29]  ² sn G. J. Wenham (Genesis [WBC], 1:34) points out that there is nothing in the passage that prohibits the man and the woman from eating meat. He suggests that eating meat came after the fall. Gen 9:3 may then ratify the postfall practice of eating meat rather than inaugurate the practice, as is often understood.

[1:30]  ³ tn The phrase “I give” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:17]  ⁴ tn Since there is no article on the word, the personal name is used, rather than the generic “the man” (cf. NRSV).

[3:17]  ⁵ tn The idiom “listen to the voice of” often means “obey.” The man “obeyed” his wife and in the process disobeyed God.

[3:17]  ⁶ sn For the ground to be cursed means that it will no longer yield its bounty as the blessing from God had promised. The whole creation, Paul writes in Rom 8:22, is still groaning under this curse, waiting for the day of redemption.

[3:17]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew phrase בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ (ba’avurekha) is more literally translated “on your account” or “because of you.” The idiomatic “thanks to you” in the translation tries to capture the point of this expression.

[3:17]  ⁸ sn In painful toil you will eat. The theme of eating is prominent throughout Gen 3. The prohibition was against eating from the tree of knowledge. The sin was in eating. The interrogation concerned the eating from the tree of knowledge. The serpent is condemned to eat the dust of the ground. The curse focuses on eating in a “measure for measure” justice. Because the man and the woman sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, God will forbid the ground to cooperate, and so it will be through painful toil that they will eat.

[3:18]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term עֵשֶׂב (’esev), when referring to human food, excludes grass (eaten by cattle) and woody plants like vines.

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn The expression “the sweat of your brow” is a metonymy, the sweat being the result of painful toil in the fields.

[3:19]  ¹¹ sn Until you return to the ground. The theme of humankind’s mortality is critical here in view of the temptation to be like God. Man will labor painfully to provide food, obviously not enjoying the bounty that creation promised. In place of the abundance of the orchard’s fruit trees, thorns and thistles will grow. Man will have to work the soil so that it will produce the grain to make bread. This will continue until he returns to the soil from which he was taken (recalling the creation in 2:7 with the wordplay on Adam and ground). In spite of the dreams of immortality and divinity, man is but dust (2:7), and will return to dust. So much for his pride.

[3:19]  ¹² sn In general, the themes of the curse oracles are important in the NT teaching that Jesus became the cursed one hanging on the tree. In his suffering and death, all the motifs are drawn together: the tree, the sweat, the thorns, and the dust of death (see Ps 22:15). Jesus experienced it all, to have victory over it through the resurrection.

[104:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”

[104:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).

[104:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”

[104:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and wine [that] makes the heart of man happy.”

[104:15]  ¹⁷ 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”).

[104:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and food [that] sustains the heart of man.”

[115:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the heavens [are] heavens to the Lord.”

[115:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to the sons of man.”

[13:23]  ²¹ tn Heb “fallow ground” (so NASB). The word נִיר (nir) means “the tillable [or untilled; or fallow] ground.” BDB 644 s.v. says this line could be rendered: “abundant food [yields] the fallow ground of poor men” (i.e., with the Lord’s blessing).

[13:23]  ²² tc The MT reads “there is what is swept away because [there is] no justice” (וְיֵשׁ נִסְפֶּה בְּלֹא מִשְׁפָּט, vÿyesh nispeh bÿlo’ mishpat). The LXX reads “the great enjoy wealth many years, but some men perish little by little.” The Syriac reads “those who have no habitation waste wealth many years, and some waste it completely.” Tg. Prov 13:23 reads “the great man devours the land of the poor, and some men are taken away unjustly.” The Vulgate has “there is much food in the fresh land of the fathers, and for others it is collected without judgment.” C. H. Toy says that the text is corrupt (Proverbs [ICC], 277). Nevertheless, the MT makes sense: The ground could produce enough food for people if there were no injustice in the land. Poverty is unnecessary as long as there is justice and not injustice.

[27:23]  ²³ tn The sentence uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect from יָדַע (yada’, “to know”). The imperfect here has been given the obligatory nuance, “you must know,” and that has to be intensified with the infinitive.

[27:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the faces of your flock.”

[27:23]  ²⁵ tn The idiom is “place [it on] your heart” or “take to heart.” Cf. NLT “put your heart into.”

[27:24]  ²⁶ tn Heb “riches are not forever” (so KJV, NASB); TEV “wealth is not permanent.” The term “last” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[27:24]  ²⁷ tn The conjunction and the particle indicate that the same nuance continues here in the second colon, and so “last” has been supplied here as well.

[27:26]  ²⁸ sn Verse 25 is the protasis and v. 26 the apodosis. The two verses say that when the harvest is taken in, then the grass will grow, and they can sell and use their livestock. The lambs will provide clothing, and the goats when sold will pay for land.

[27:27]  ²⁹ sn This part of the proverb shows the proper interplay between human labor and divine provision. It teaches people to take care of what they have because it will not last forever.

[27:27]  ³⁰ tn Heb “life”; KJV, NAB “maintenance”; NRSV “nourishment.”

[28:19]  ³¹ tn Or “will have plenty of food” (Heb “bread”); so NAB, NASB, NCV.

[28:19]  ³² tn Heb “empty things” or “vain things”; NRSV “follows worthless pursuits.”

[28:19]  ³³ tn The repetition of the verb strengthens the contrast. Both halves of the verse use the verb יִשְׂבַּע (yisba’, “will be satisfied; will be filled with; will have enough”). It is positive in the first colon, but negative in the second – with an ironic twist to say one is “satisfied” with poverty.

[40:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[40:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.

[40:10]  ³⁶ tn This plus “Things will go well with you” is in essence the substance of the oath. The pronouns are emphatic, “And I, behold I will stay…and you, you may gather.” The imperatives in the second half of the verse are more a form of permission than of command or advice (cf. NJPS, REB, TEV and compare the usage in 40:4 and the references in the translator’s note there).

[40:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.