Numbers 13:23-24

13:23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff ¹  between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs. 13:24 That place was called ²  the Eshcol Valley, ³  because of the cluster ⁴  of grapes that the Israelites cut from there.

Micah 7:1

Micah Laments Judah’s Sin

7:1 I am depressed! ⁵ 

Indeed, ⁶  it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered,

and the grapes have been harvested. ⁷ 

There is no grape cluster to eat,

no fresh figs that I crave so much. ⁸ 

[13:23]  ¹ tn The word is related etymologically to the verb for “slip, slide, bend, totter.” This would fit the use very well. A pole that would not bend would be hard to use to carry things, but a pole or stave that was flexible would serve well.

[13:24]  ² tn The verb is rendered as a passive because there is no expressed subject.

[13:24]  ³ tn Or “Wadi Eshcol.” The translation “brook” is too generous; the Hebrew term refers to a river bed, a ravine or valley through which torrents of rain would rush in the rainy season; at other times it might be completely dry.

[13:24]  ⁴ tn The word “Eshcol” is drawn from the Hebrew expression concerning the “cluster of grapes.” The word is probably retained in the name Burj Haskeh, two miles north of Damascus.

[7:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “woe to me!” In light of the image that follows, perhaps one could translate, “I am disappointed.”

[7:1]  ⁶ tn Or “for.”

[7:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “I am like the gathering of the summer fruit, like the gleanings of the harvest.” Micah is not comparing himself to the harvested fruit. There is an ellipsis here, as the second half of the verse makes clear. The idea is, “I am like [one at the time] the summer fruit is gathered and the grapes are harvested.”

[7:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “my appetite craves.”