Isaiah 33:9

33:9 The land ¹  dries up ²  and withers away;

the forest of Lebanon shrivels up ³  and decays.

Sharon ⁴  is like the desert; ⁵ 

Bashan and Carmel ⁶  are parched. ⁷ 

Isaiah 41:19

41:19 I will make cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees grow in the wilderness;

I will make evergreens, firs, and cypresses grow together in the desert.

Isaiah 60:13

60:13 The splendor of Lebanon will come to you,

its evergreens, firs, and cypresses together,

to beautify my palace; ⁸ 

I will bestow honor on my throne room. ⁹ 

Isaiah 60:21

60:21 All of your people will be godly; ¹⁰ 

they will possess the land permanently.

I will plant them like a shoot;

they will be the product of my labor,

through whom I reveal my splendor. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 61:3

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ¹²  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ¹³  instead of discouragement. ¹⁴ 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ¹⁵ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 65:8-10

65:8 This is what the Lord says:

“When ¹⁷  juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes,

someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’ ¹⁸ 

So I will do for the sake of my servants –

I will not destroy everyone. ¹⁹ 

65:9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,

and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains.

My chosen ones will take possession of the land; ²⁰ 

my servants will live there.

65:10 Sharon ²¹  will become a pasture for sheep,

and the Valley of Achor ²²  a place where cattle graze; ²³ 

they will belong to my people, who seek me. ²⁴ 

Psalms 72:16

72:16 May there be ²⁵  an abundance ²⁶  of grain in the earth;

on the tops ²⁷  of the mountains may it ²⁸  sway! ²⁹ 

May its ³⁰  fruit trees ³¹  flourish ³²  like the forests of Lebanon! ³³ 

May its crops ³⁴  be as abundant ³⁵  as the grass of the earth! ³⁶ 

Hosea 14:6-7

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 ³⁷  in his shade;

they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. ³⁸ 

They will blossom like a vine,

and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

[33:9]  ¹ tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”

[33:9]  ² tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.

[33:9]  ³ tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.

[33:9]  ⁴ sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.

[33:9]  ⁵ tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.

[33:9]  ⁶ sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.

[33:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”

[60:13]  ⁸ tn Or “holy place, sanctuary.”

[60:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “the place of my feet.” See Ezek 43:7, where the Lord’s throne is called the “place of the soles of my feet.”

[60:21]  ¹⁰ tn Or “righteous” (NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “just.”

[60:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a shoot of his planting, the work of my hands, to reveal splendor.”

[61:3]  ¹² tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ¹⁵ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[65:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “just as.” In the Hebrew text the statement is one long sentence, “Just as…, so I will do….”

[65:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for a blessing is in it.”

[65:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “by not destroying everyone.”

[65:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to the land which contains the aforementioned mountains.

[65:10]  ²¹ sn Sharon was a plain located to the west, along the Mediterranean coast north of Joppa and south of Carmel.

[65:10]  ²² sn The Valley of Achor (“Achor” means “trouble” in Hebrew) was the site of Achan’s execution. It was located to the east, near Jericho.

[65:10]  ²³ tn Heb “a resting place for cattle”; NASB, NIV “for herds.”

[65:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for my people who seek me.”

[72:16]  ²⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect. The translation assumes the subject is impersonal (rather than the king).

[72:16]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew noun פִסַּה (pissah; which appears here in the construct form) occurs only here in the OT. Perhaps the noun is related to the verbal root פָּשָׂה (pasah, “to spread,” see BDB 832 s.v.; the root appears as פָּסָה [pasah] in postbiblical Hebrew), which is used in postbiblical Hebrew of the rising sun’s rays spreading over the horizon and a tree’s branches spreading out (see Jastrow 1194 s.v. פסי, פָּסָה, פָּשָׂה). In Ps 72:16 a “spreading of grain” would refer to grain fields extending out over the land. C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:139) emend the form to סְפִיחַ (sÿfiakh, “second growth”).

[72:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “top” (singular).

[72:16]  ²⁸ tn That is, the grain.

[72:16]  ²⁹ tn According to the traditional accentuation of the MT, this verb belongs with what follows. See the translator’s note at the end of the verse for a discussion of the poetic parallelism and interpretation of the verse.

[72:16]  ³⁰ tn The antecedent of the third masculine singular pronominal suffix is unclear. It is unlikely that the antecedent is אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) because this noun is normally grammatically feminine. Perhaps רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “top [of the mountains]”) is the antecedent. Another option is to understand the pronoun as referring to the king, who would then be viewed as an instrument of divine agricultural blessing (see v. 6).

[72:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “fruit.”

[72:16]  ³² tc According to the traditional accentuation of the MT, this verb belongs with what follows. See the note on the word “earth” at the end of the verse for a discussion of the poetic parallelism and interpretation of the verse. The present translation takes it with the preceding words, “like Lebanon its fruit” and emends the verb form from וְיָצִיצוּ (vÿyatsitsu; Qal imperfect third masculine plural with prefixed vav, [ו]) to יָצִיץ (yatsits; Qal imperfect third masculine singular). The initial vav is eliminated as dittographic (note the vav on the ending of the preceding form פִּרְיוֹ, piryo, “its/his fruit”) and the vav at the end of the form is placed on the following emended form (see the note on the word “crops”), yielding וַעֲמִיר (va’amir, “and [its] crops”).

[72:16]  ³³ tn Heb “like Lebanon.”

[72:16]  ³⁴ tc The MT has “from the city.” The translation assumes an emendation to עֲמִיר (’amir, “crops”).

[72:16]  ³⁵ tn The translation assumes that the verb צוץ (“flourish”) goes with the preceding line. The words “be as abundant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[72:16]  ³⁶ tc The traditional accentuation and vocalization of the MT differ from the text assumed by the present translation. The MT reads as follows: “May there be an abundance of grain in the earth, / and on the tops of the mountains! / May its [or “his”?] fruit [trees?] rustle like [the trees of] Lebanon! / May they flourish from the city, like the grass of the earth!” If one follows the MT, then it would appear that the “fruit” of the third line is a metaphorical reference to the king’s people, who flow out from the cities to populate the land (see line 4). Elsewhere in the OT people are sometimes compared to grass that sprouts up from the land (see v. 7, as well as Isa 27:6; Pss 92:7; 103:15). The translation understands a different poetic structural arrangement and, assuming the emendations mentioned in earlier notes, interprets each line of the verse to be a prayer for agricultural abundance.

[14:7]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ 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).