3:10
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
10a then your barns will be filled with plenty,
10b and your vats will overflow with new wine.
This verse expresses the result of obeying the command in 3:9.
3:10a
your barns: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as barns refers to granaries or other storage places for grain and other crops. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
your granaries
-or-
your storehouses
-or-
the places where you store crops
filled with plenty: There are two ways to interpret the Hebrew phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as filled with plenty :
(1) It means “filled with plenty,” that is, completely filled. For example:
will be full (New Century Version)
-or-
will be filled completely (NET Bible)
(2) It means “filled with grain.” For example:
filled with grain (Revised English Bible)
You may follow either interpretation. There is little difference in meaning between them. A barn that is completely filled would contain mostly grain. The Display follows interpretation (1).
3:10b
and your vats: The word vats refers to a place in which grape juice was stored as it fermented into wine. People placed the grapes in an area that was carved or hollowed out of a large flat stone. Then they trampled the grapes with their feet. The juice from the crushed grapes ran down through a channel carved in the rock into a lower area or “vat” that was also carved out of the rock.
Some ways to translate the word vats are:
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
wine jars
-or-
wine containers
• Make the container implicit. For example:
you will have too much wine to store it all (Good News Translation)
Additional cultural information about OT wine presses may be placed in a footnote if desired.
will overflow: The verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as overflow is literally “burst open.” “Burst open” is an example of hyperbole. It is used here to emphasize that the wine vats will be completely full. You should use an expression in your language that emphasizes the large quantity of the wine. Here is another way to translate this:
your vats will be bursting (New Revised Standard Version)
with new wine: In Hebrew, new wine refers to wine that has been pressed recently from grapes and gathered into vats. It is not yet fermented or is just beginning to ferment. Some other ways to translate this word are:
fresh wine (God’s Word)
-or-
fermenting grape/fruit juice
-or-
grape juice that is beginning to ferment
The emphasis here is on the quantity of the wine, not its age. If it is awkward to specify newly made wine and still maintain the emphasis on its abundance, you may want to use a more general term. For example:
wine (English Standard Version)
wine: The word wine refers to an alcoholic drink. It is made from the juice of a fruit called grapes. When grape juice ferments, it becomes wine.
In some areas, people may not be familiar with grapes or with wine. If that is true in your area, some other ways to translate wine are:
• Use a specific term for another alcoholic drink made from fruit. For example:
pomegranate wine
-or-
a drink like palm wine
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
fruit juice/water
-or-
grape juice
General Comment on 3:10a–b
In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel terms, as the Contemporary English Version has done. The Contemporary English Version also makes the storage containers for grain and wine implicit. It mentions only the contents:
Then you will have more grain and grapes than you will ever need.
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