Isaiah 37:30

37:30 ¹ “This will be your reminder that I have spoken the truth: ²  This year you will eat what grows wild, ³  and next year ⁴  what grows on its own. But the year after that ⁵  you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 29:5

29:5 ‘Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.

Jeremiah 31:5

31:5 Once again you will plant vineyards

on the hills of Samaria. ⁷ 

Those who plant them

will once again enjoy their fruit. ⁸ 

Ezekiel 28:26

28:26 They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely ⁹  when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”

Amos 9:13-15

9:13 “Be sure of this, ¹⁰  the time is ¹¹  coming,” says the Lord,

“when the plowman will catch up to the reaper ¹² 

and the one who stomps the grapes ¹³  will overtake ¹⁴  the planter. ¹⁵ 

Juice will run down the slopes, ¹⁶ 

it will flow down all the hillsides. ¹⁷ 

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ¹⁸ 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ¹⁹  and settle down. ²⁰ 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ²¹ 

they will grow orchards ²²  and eat the fruit they produce. ²³ 

9:15 I will plant them on their land

and they will never again be uprooted from the ²⁴  land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

[37:30]  ¹ tn At this point the word concerning the king of Assyria (vv. 22-29) ends and the Lord again addresses Hezekiah and the people directly (see v. 21).

[37:30]  ² tn Heb “and this is your sign.” In this case the אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) is a future reminder of God’s intervention designated before the actual intervention takes place. For similar “signs” see Exod 3:12 and Isa 7:14-25.

[37:30]  ³ sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.

[37:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “and in the second year” (so ASV).

[37:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the third year” (so KJV, NAB).

[37:30]  ⁶ tn The four plural imperatival verb forms in v. 30b are used rhetorically. The Lord commands the people to plant, harvest, etc. to emphasize the certainty of restored peace and prosperity.

[31:5]  ⁷ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[31:5]  ⁸ sn The terms used here refer to the enjoyment of a period of peace and stability and the reversal of the curse (contrast, e.g., Deut 28:30). The Hebrew word translated “enjoy its fruit” is a technical one that refers to the owner of a vineyard getting to enjoy its fruit in the fifth year after it was planted, the crops of the first three years lying fallow, and that of the fourth being given to the Lord (cf. Lev 19:23-25).

[28:26]  ⁹ sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.

[9:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[9:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the days are.”

[9:13]  ¹² sn The plowman will catch up to the reaper. Plowing occurred in October-November, and harvesting in April-May (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109.) But in the future age of restored divine blessing, there will be so many crops the reapers will take all summer to harvest them, and it will be time for plowing again before the harvest is finished.

[9:13]  ¹³ sn When the grapes had been harvested, they were placed in a press where workers would stomp on them with their feet and squeeze out the juice. For a discussion of grape harvesting technique, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 110-12.

[9:13]  ¹⁴ tn The verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[9:13]  ¹⁵ sn The grape harvest occurred in August-September, planting in November-December (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109). But in the future age described here there will be so many grapes the workers who stomp them will still be working when the next planting season arrives.

[9:13]  ¹⁶ tn Or “hills,” where the vineyards were planted.

[9:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and all the hills will melt.”

[9:14]  ¹⁸ tn This line can also be translated “I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel” and is a common idiom (e.g., Deut 30:3; Jer 30:3; Hos 6:11; Zeph 3:20). This rendering is followed by several modern English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, NJPS).

[9:14]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ²⁰ tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ²² tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ²³ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”

[9:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “their.” The pronoun was replaced by the English definite article in the translation for stylistic reasons.