Ulangan 32:13-14

32:13 He enabled him ¹  to travel over the high terrain of the land,

and he ate of the produce of the fields.

He provided honey for him from the cliffs, ² 

and olive oil ³  from the hardest of ⁴  rocks, ⁵ 

32:14 butter from the herd

and milk from the flock,

along with the fat of lambs,

rams and goats of Bashan,

along with the best of the kernels of wheat;

and from the juice of grapes you drank wine.

Ulangan 32:2

32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain,

my sayings will drip like the dew, ⁶ 

as rain drops upon the grass,

and showers upon new growth.

1 Samuel 17:29

17:29 David replied, “What have I done now? Can’t I say anything?” ⁷ 

Mazmur 81:16

81:16 “I would feed Israel the best wheat, ⁸ 

and would satisfy your appetite ⁹  with honey from the rocky cliffs.” ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 7:15

7:15 He will eat sour milk ¹¹  and honey, which will help him know how ¹²  to reject evil and choose what is right.

Yesaya 7:22

7:22 From the abundance of milk they produce, ¹³  he will have sour milk for his meals. Indeed, everyone left in the heart of the land will eat sour milk and honey.

[32:13]  ¹ tn The form of the suffix on this verbal form indicates that the verb is a preterite, not an imperfect. As such it simply states the action factually. Note as well the preterites with vav (ו) consecutive that follow in the verse.

[32:13]  ² tn Heb “he made him suck honey from the rock.”

[32:13]  ³ tn Heb “oil,” but this probably refers to olive oil; see note on the word “rock” at the end of this verse.

[32:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “flinty.”

[32:13]  ⁵ sn Olive oil from rock probably suggests olive trees growing on rocky ledges and yet doing so productively. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 415; cf. TEV “their olive trees flourished in stony ground.”

[32:2]  ⁶ tn Or “mist,” “light drizzle.” In some contexts the term appears to refer to light rain, rather than dew.

[17:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “Is it not [just] a word?”

[81:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional sentence of vv. 13-14. The third masculine singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6.

[81:16]  sn I would feed. After the parenthetical “curse” in v. 15, the Lord’s speech continues here.

[81:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10.

[81:16]  ¹⁰ sn The language in this verse, particularly the references to wheat and honey, is reminiscent of Deut 32:13-14.

[7:15]  ¹¹ tn Or, perhaps “cream,” frequently, “curds” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); KJV, ASV “butter”; CEV “yogurt.”

[7:15]  ¹² tn Heb “for his knowing.” Traditionally the preposition has been translated in a temporal sense, “when he knows.” However, though the preposition לְ (lamed) can sometimes have a temporal force, it never carries such a nuance in any of the 40 other passages where it is used with the infinitive construct of יָדַע (yada’, “to know”). Most often the construction indicates purpose/result. This sense is preferable here. The following context indicates that sour milk and honey will epitomize the devastation that God’s judgment will bring upon the land. Cultivated crops will be gone and the people will be forced to live off the milk produced by their goats and the honey they find in the thickets. As the child is forced to eat a steady diet of this sour milk and honey, he will be reminded of the consequences of sin and motivated to make correct moral decisions in order to avoid further outbreaks of divine discipline.

[7:22]  ¹³ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated, see note on 2:2.