104:15 as well as wine that makes people feel so good, 1
and so they can have oil to make their faces shine, 2
as well as food that sustains people’s lives. 3
47:13 But there was no food in all the land because the famine was very severe; the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away 4 because of the famine.
3:1 Look, the sovereign Lord who commands armies 11
is about to remove from Jerusalem 12 and Judah
every source of security, including 13
all the food and water, 14
4:16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply 15 in Jerusalem. 16 They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror
1 tn Heb “and wine [that] makes the heart of man happy.”
2 tn Heb “to make [the] face shine from oil.” The Hebrew verb צָהַל (tsahal, “to shine”) occurs only here in the OT. It appears to be an alternate form of צָהַר (tsahar), a derivative from צָהָרִים (tsaharim, “noon”).
3 tn Heb “and food [that] sustains the heart of man.”
4 tn The verb לַהַה (lahah, = לָאָה, la’ah) means “to faint, to languish”; it figuratively describes the land as wasting away, drooping, being worn out.
5 tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates consequence.
6 sn Pharaoh’s slaves. The idea of slavery is not attractive to the modern mind, but in the ancient world it was the primary way of dealing with the poor and destitute. If the people became slaves of Pharaoh, it was Pharaoh’s responsibility to feed them and care for them. It was the best way for them to survive the famine.
7 tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates purpose or result.
8 tn The disjunctive clause structure (vav [ו] + subject + negated verb) highlights the statement and brings their argument to a conclusion.
9 tn Heb “When I break to you staff of bread” (KJV, ASV, and NASB all similar).
10 tn Heb “they will return your bread in weight.”
11 tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at 1:9.
12 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
13 tn Heb “support and support.” The masculine and feminine forms of the noun are placed side-by-side to emphasize completeness. See GKC 394 §122.v.
14 tn Heb “all the support of food, and all the support of water.”
15 tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support.
16 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
17 tn Grk “came upon all Egypt.”
18 tn Grk “and,” but logically causal.
19 sn Our. Stephen spoke of “our” ancestors (Grk “fathers”) in an inclusive sense throughout the speech until his rebuke in v. 51, where the nation does what “your” ancestors did, at which point an exclusive pronoun is used. This serves to emphasize the rebuke.
20 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”