Isaiah 62:8-9

62:8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand,

by his strong arm: ¹ 

“I will never again give your grain

to your enemies as food,

and foreigners will not drink your wine,

which you worked hard to produce.

62:9 But those who harvest the grain ²  will eat it,

and will praise the Lord.

Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine ³ 

in the courts of my holy sanctuary.”

Isaiah 65:13-14

65:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!

Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!

Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!

65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! ⁴ 

But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; ⁵ 

you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ⁶ 

Hosea 2:21-22

Agricultural Fertility Restored to the Repentant Nation

2:21 “At that time, ⁷  I will willingly respond,” ⁸  declares the Lord.

“I will respond to the sky,

and the sky ⁹  will respond to the ground;

2:22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)! ¹⁰ 

Joel 2:26

2:26 You will have plenty to eat,

and your hunger will be fully satisfied; ¹¹ 

you will praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has acted wondrously in your behalf.

My people will never again be put to shame.

Joel 3:18

3:18 On that day ¹²  the mountains will drip with sweet wine, ¹³ 

and the hills will flow with milk. ¹⁴ 

All the dry stream beds ¹⁵  of Judah will flow with water.

A spring will flow out from the temple ¹⁶  of the Lord,

watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. ¹⁷ 

Amos 8:11-14

8:11 Be certain of this, ¹⁸  the time is ¹⁹  coming,” says the sovereign Lord,

“when I will send a famine through the land –

not a shortage of food or water

but an end to divine revelation! ²⁰ 

8:12 People ²¹  will stagger from sea to sea, ²² 

and from the north around to the east.

They will wander about looking for a revelation from ²³  the Lord,

but they will not find any. ²⁴ 

8:13 In that day your ²⁵  beautiful young women ²⁶  and your ²⁷  young men will faint from thirst. ²⁸  8:14 These are the ones who now take oaths ²⁹  in the name of the sinful idol goddess ³⁰  of Samaria.

They vow, ³¹  ‘As surely as your god ³²  lives, O Dan,’ or ‘As surely as your beloved one ³³  lives, O Beer Sheba!’

But they will fall down and not get up again.”

Amos 9:13-14

9:13 “Be sure of this, ³⁴  the time is ³⁵  coming,” says the Lord,

“when the plowman will catch up to the reaper ³⁶ 

and the one who stomps the grapes ³⁷  will overtake ³⁸  the planter. ³⁹ 

Juice will run down the slopes, ⁴⁰ 

it will flow down all the hillsides. ⁴¹ 

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ⁴² 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ⁴³  and settle down. ⁴⁴ 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ⁴⁵ 

they will grow orchards ⁴⁶  and eat the fruit they produce. ⁴⁷ 

Ephesians 5:18-19

5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, which ⁴⁸  is debauchery, ⁴⁹  but be filled by the Spirit, ⁵⁰  5:19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music ⁵¹  in ⁵²  your hearts to the Lord,

[62:8]  ¹ tn The Lord’s right hand and strong arm here symbolize his power and remind the audience that his might guarantees the fulfillment of the following promise.

[62:9]  ² tn Heb “it,” the grain mentioned in v. 8a.

[62:9]  ³ tn Heb “and those who gather it will drink it.” The masculine singular pronominal suffixes attached to “gather” and “drink” refer back to the masculine noun תִּירוֹשׁ (tirosh, “wine”) in v. 8b.

[65:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the good of the heart.”

[65:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the pain of the heart.”

[65:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the breaking of the spirit.”

[2:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “And in that day”; NAB, NRSV “On that day.”

[2:21]  ⁸ tn The verb עָנָה, (’anah) which is used throughout 2:23-24, is related to the root I עָנָה (’anah), “to answer, listen attentively, react willingly” (BDB 772 s.v. 1.b; HALOT 852 s.v. ענה 3.b).

[2:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they.” In the Hebrew text the plural pronoun is used because it refers back to the term translated “sky,” which is a dual form in Hebrew. Many English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NRSV) use the plural term “heavens” here, which agrees with a plural pronoun (cf. also NIV, NCV “skies”).

[2:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Jezreel.” The use of the name יִזְרְעֶאל (yizré’e’l, “Jezreel”) creates a powerful three-fold wordplay: (1) The proper name יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) is a phonetic wordplay on the similar sounding name יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra’el, “Israel”): God will answer Israel, that is, Jezreel. (2) The name יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) plays on the verb זָרַע (zara’, “to sow, plant”), the immediately following word: וּזְרַעְתִּיהָ (uzéra’tiha, vav + Qal perfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person feminine singular suffix: “I will sow/plant her”). This wordplay creates a popular etymology for יִזְרְעֶאל meaning, “God sows/plants,” which fits well into the agricultural fertility imagery in 2:21-23 [2:23-25]. (3) This positive connotation of יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) in 2:21-23[23-25] reverses the negative connotation of יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) in 1:4-5 (bloodshed of Jehu in the Jezreel Valley).

[2:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you will surely eat and be satisfied.”

[3:18]  ¹² tn Heb “and it will come about in that day.”

[3:18]  ¹³ tn Many English translations read “new wine” or “sweet wine,” meaning unfermented wine, i.e., grape juice.

[3:18]  ¹⁴ sn The language used here is a hyperbolic way of describing both a bountiful grape harvest (“the mountains will drip with juice”) and an abundance of cattle (“the hills will flow with milk”). In addition to being hyperbolic, the language is also metonymical (effect for cause).

[3:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “seasonal streams.”

[3:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[3:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “valley of Shittim.” The exact location of the Valley of Acacia Trees is uncertain. The Hebrew word שִׁטִּים (shittim) refers to a place where the acacia trees grow, which would be a very arid and dry place. The acacia tree can survive in such locations, whereas most other trees require more advantageous conditions. Joel’s point is that the stream that has been mentioned will proceed to the most dry and barren of locations in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

[8:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[8:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  ²² tn That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east – that is, across the whole land.

[8:12]  ²³ tn Heb “looking for the word of.”

[8:12]  ²⁴ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the.”

[8:13]  ²⁶ tn Or “virgins.”

[8:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the.”

[8:13]  ²⁸ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “those who swear.”

[8:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the sin [or “guilt”] of Samaria.” This could be a derogatory reference to an idol-goddess popular in the northern kingdom, perhaps Asherah (cf. 2 Chr 24:18, where this worship is labeled “their guilt”), or to the golden calf at the national sanctuary in Bethel (Hos 8:6, 10:8). Some English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, CEV) repoint the word and read “Ashimah,” the name of a goddess worshiped in Hamath in Syria (see 2 Kgs 17:30).

[8:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “say.”

[8:14]  ³² sn Your god is not identified. It may refer to another patron deity who was not the God of Israel, a local manifestation of the Lord that was worshiped by the people there, or, more specifically, the golden calf image erected in Dan by Jeroboam I (see 1 Kgs 12:28-30).

[8:14]  ³³ tc The MT reads, “As surely as the way [to] Beer Sheba lives,” or “As surely as the way lives, O Beer Sheba.” Perhaps the term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “the way”) refers to the pilgrimage route to Beersheba (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 272) or it may be a title for a god. The notion of pilgrimage appears elsewhere in the book (cf. 4:4-5; 5:4-5; 8:12). The translation above assumes an emendation to דֹּדְךְ (dodÿkh, “your beloved” or “relative”; the term also is used in 6:10) and understands this as referring either to the Lord (since other kinship terms are used of him, such as “Father”) or to another deity that was particularly popular in Beer Sheba. Besides the commentaries, see S. M. Olyan, “The Oaths of Amos 8:14” Priesthood and Cult in Ancient Israel, 121-49.

[9:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[9:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the days are.”

[9:13]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn The verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[9:13]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “hills,” where the vineyards were planted.

[9:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and all the hills will melt.”

[9:14]  ⁴² 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]  ⁴³ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”

[5:18]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “in which.”

[5:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “dissipation.” See BDAG 148 s.v. ἀσωτία.

[5:18]  ⁵⁰ tn Many have taken ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati) as indicating content, i.e., one is to be filled with the Spirit. ExSyn 375 states, “There are no other examples in biblical Greek in which ἐν + the dative after πληρόω indicates content. Further, the parallel with οἴνῳ as well as the common grammatical category of means suggest that the idea intended is that believers are to be filled by means of the [Holy] Spirit. If so there seems to be an unnamed agent. The meaning of this text can only be fully appreciated in light of the πληρόω language in Ephesians. Always the term is used in connection with a member of the Trinity. Three considerations seem to be key: (1) In Eph 3:19 the ‘hinge’ prayer introducing the last half of the letter makes a request that the believers ‘be filled with all the fullness of God’ (πληρωθῆτε εἰς πᾶν πλήρωμα τοῦ θεοῦ). The explicit content of πληρόω is thus God’s fullness (probably a reference to his moral attributes). (2) In 4:10 Christ is said to be the agent of filling (with v. 11 adding the specifics of his giving spiritual gifts). (3) The author then brings his argument to a crescendo in 5:18: Believers are to be filled by Christ by means of the Spirit with the content of the fullness of God.”

[5:19]  ⁵¹ tn See BDAG 1096 s.v. ψάλλω.

[5:19]  ⁵² tn Or “with.”