Jeremiah 11:5

11:5 Then I will keep the promise I swore on oath to your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” ¹  That is the very land that you still live in today.’” ²  And I responded, “Amen! Let it be so, ³  Lord!”

Exodus 3:8

3:8 I have come down ⁴  to deliver them ⁵  from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, ⁶  to a land flowing with milk and honey, ⁷  to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁸ 

Exodus 3:17

3:17 and I have promised ⁹  that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, ¹⁰  to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

Exodus 13:5

13:5 When ¹¹  the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, ¹²  then you will keep ¹³  this ceremony ¹⁴  in this month.

Exodus 33:1-3

33:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up ¹⁵  from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath ¹⁶  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ¹⁷  33:2 I will send an angel ¹⁸  before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ¹⁹  33:3 Go up ²⁰  to a land flowing with milk and honey. But ²¹  I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you ²²  on the way.”

Deuteronomy 26:9-11

26:9 Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 26:10 So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him. ²³  26:11 You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, ²⁴  along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.

Ezekiel 20:6

20:6 On that day I swore ²⁵  to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out ²⁶  for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, ²⁷  the most beautiful of all lands.

Ezekiel 20:15

20:15 I also swore ²⁸  to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them to the land I had given them – a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.

[11:5]  ¹ tn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” is very familiar to readers in the Jewish and Christian traditions as a proverbial description of the agricultural and pastoral abundance of the land of Israel. However, it may not mean too much to readers outside those traditions; an equivalent expression would be “a land of fertile fields and fine pastures.” E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 626) identifies this as a figure of speech called synecdoche where the species is put for the genus, “a region…abounding with pasture and fruits of all kinds.”

[11:5]  ² tn Heb “‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as at this day.” However, the literal reading is too elliptical and would lead to confusion.

[11:5]  ³ tn The words “Let it be so” are not in the text; they are an explanation of the significance of the term “Amen” for those who may not be part of the Christian or Jewish tradition.

[3:8]  ⁴ sn God’s coming down is a frequent anthropomorphism in Genesis and Exodus. It expresses his direct involvement, often in the exercise of judgment.

[3:8]  ⁵ tn The Hiphil infinitive with the suffix is לְהַצִּילוֹ (lÿhatsilo, “to deliver them”). It expresses the purpose of God’s coming down. The verb itself is used for delivering or rescuing in the general sense, and snatching out of danger for the specific.

[3:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “to a land good and large”; NRSV “to a good and broad land.” In the translation the words “that is both” are supplied because in contemporary English “good and” combined with any additional descriptive term can be understood as elative (“good and large” = “very large”; “good and spacious” = “very spacious”; “good and ready” = “very ready”). The point made in the Hebrew text is that the land to which they are going is both good (in terms of quality) and large (in terms of size).

[3:8]  ⁷ tn This vibrant description of the promised land is a familiar one. Gesenius classifies “milk and honey” as epexegetical genitives because they provide more precise description following a verbal adjective in the construct state (GKC 418-19 §128.x). The land is modified by “flowing,” and “flowing” is explained by the genitives “milk and honey.” These two products will be in abundance in the land, and they therefore exemplify what a desirable land it is. The language is hyperbolic, as if the land were streaming with these products.

[3:8]  ⁸ tn Each people group is joined to the preceding by the vav conjunction, “and.” Each also has the definite article, as in other similar lists (3:17; 13:5; 34:11). To repeat the conjunction and article in the translation seems to put more weight on the list in English than is necessary to its function in identifying what land God was giving the Israelites.

[3:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “And I said.”

[3:17]  ¹⁰ tn See the note on this list in 3:8.

[13:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and it will be when.”

[13:5]  ¹² tn See notes on Exod 3:8.

[13:5]  ¹³ tn The verb is וְעָבַדְתָּ (vÿ’avadta), the Qal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive. It is the equivalent of the imperfect tense of instruction or injunction; it forms the main point after the temporal clause – “when Yahweh brings you out…then you will serve.”

[13:5]  ¹⁴ tn The object is a cognate accusative for emphasis on the meaning of the service – “you will serve this service.” W. C. Kaiser notes how this noun was translated “slavery” and “work” in the book, but “service” or “ceremony” for Yahweh. Israel was saved from slavery to Egypt into service for God as remembered by this ceremony (“Exodus,” EBC 2:383).

[33:1]  ¹⁵ tn The two imperatives underscore the immediacy of the demand: “go, go up,” meaning “get going up” or “be on your way.”

[33:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the land which I swore.”

[33:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “seed.”

[33:2]  ¹⁸ sn This seems not to be the same as the Angel of the Presence introduced before.

[33:2]  ¹⁹ sn See T. Ishida, “The Structure and Historical Implications of Lists of Pre-Israelite Nations,” Bib (1979): 461-90.

[33:3]  ²⁰ tn This verse seems to be a continuation of the command to “go up” since it begins with “to a land….” The intervening clauses are therefore parenthetical or relative. But the translation is made simpler by supplying the verb.

[33:3]  ²¹ tn This is a strong adversative here, “but.”

[33:3]  ²² tn The clause is “lest I consume you.” It would go with the decision not to accompany them: “I will not go up with you…lest I consume (destroy) you in the way.” The verse is saying that because of the people’s bent to rebellion, Yahweh would not remain in their midst as he had formerly said he would do. Their lives would be at risk if he did.

[26:10]  ²³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.

[26:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “household” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); Heb “house” (so KJV, NRSV).

[20:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”

[20:6]  ²⁶ tn Or “searched out.” The Hebrew word is used to describe the activity of the spies in “spying out” the land of Canaan (Num 13-14); cf. KJV “I had espied for them.”

[20:6]  ²⁷ sn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey,” a figure of speech describing the land’s abundant fertility, occurs in v. 15 as well as Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 27:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:23 (see also Deut 1:25; 8:7-9).

[20:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”