On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast …: On this mountain is the key phrase that links verses 6-12. As in 2.2-3, this mountain must be Mount Zion, just referred to in 24.23, though it is implied rather than stated. Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch make it explicit. There Yahweh will prepare a banquet for all peoples, not just the Israelites. For the LORD of hosts, see 1.9.
A feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined indicates two things about the feast. It will be huge, and only the very best food and wine will be served. This whole expression is well structured: the first phrase, a feast of fat things, is further defined in the third phrase as of fat things full of marrow; likewise, the second phrase, a feast of wine on the lees, is further defined in the fourth phrase as of wine on the lees well refined. The additional, parallel phrases heighten the impact of the description of the feast.
Fat things renders a Hebrew term that also means “[olive] oil” (see, for example, 1 Sam 10.1; Amos 6.6). Like oil, fat is a good thing (see the comments at 5.1). Here the reference is to meat that contains fat. This was regarded as the best part of the animal and so was suitable for sacrifice (see Gen 4.4; Lev 3.3). In Psa 63.5 to feast on “marrow and fat” is clearly an honor and a sign of favor. Marrow is the soft tissue inside the bone. In the Old Testament it is considered a delicacy as well as being highly nourishing, though many cultures today do not share this view. Some translations use more general terms to express the correct meaning of fat things and marrow; for example, Good News Translation says “the richest food” (similarly Revised English Bible), while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch speaks of “fine foods … nourishing, expensive foods.” Bible en français courant still has fat in “fat meats … meats tender and fat.”
In the process of winemaking, while the wine matures, the lees is a sediment found at the bottom of the container. Normally this sediment is strained off before the wine is served, but it is possible that wine on the lees refers to a stronger wine, where the sediment is left in. Since the wine is well refined, the sediment is probably strained off, so wine on the lees may simply describe good, well-matured wine. In any case, fine, strong wine is served. In translation we may simply say “aged wine” (New International Version), “choice wines” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “wines well-matured” (Revised English Bible). Adding the phrase well refined simply strengthens the point that this is the very best wine. For wine on the lees well refined, Bible en français courant has “fine wines well purified,” and Revised English Bible says “well-matured wines strained clear.”
Since the repetition in this verse is for emphasis, we urge translators to retain it unless this is unacceptable in the receptor language. Only then should they consider following the model of Good News Translation with an abbreviated translation; much emphasis may be lost, although the basic meaning remains.
Translation examples for this verse are:
• On this mountain Yahweh of hosts will prepare a feast for all peoples.
It will be a feast of the very best meat,
a feast of the very best wine;
there will be the best meat with marrow
and the best mature wine.
• On this mountain Yahweh of hosts will set out a banquet for every nation. It will be a banquet serving the choicest meat and the best wine, meat with bone marrow and wine well matured.
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .