6:15a

You will sow but not reap: This is a curse on farming. It describes the normal activity of a farmer sowing and reaping. He will be able to sow, but the unexpected outcome is that he will not reap a harvest.

sow: This word means to plant seeds to grow a crop. Here are some other ways to translate this word:

plant (God’s Word)
-or-
plant crops (New Living Translation (2004))

reap: This word means to harvest a crop. For example:

harvest (New Century Version)

The word reap can refer in general to the gathering-in of grain or other agricultural products. However, in this context it may refer specifically to the spring harvest. If your language has specific words for harvests at different times of the year, consider using your word for a springtime harvest or the first harvest of the year.

6:15b–c

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

15b
you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil;

15c
you will tread grapes but not drink wine.

These parallel lines highlight two agricultural products that were important to the people. These lines either express two curses on these products or they are two parts of one curse on the autumn harvest. Each line describes the normal activity of producing oil or wine. The people will be able to produce them, but the unexpected, undesirable outcome is that they will not use the oil or drink the wine.

press olives…tread grapes: These words are more literally “tread olives…and new wine.” In Hebrew, the verb tread refers to both olives and new wine/grapes. There is an interpretation issue with this verb. There are two main interpretations:

(1) The Hebrew word means “press” when the referent is olives and “tread/crush” when the referent is grapes. For example:

you will press olives but not use the oil, you will crush grapes but not drink the wine (New International Version (2011))

(2) The Hebrew word means “tread/crush” for both olives and grapes. For example:

you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine (English Standard Version)

(English Standard Version, God’s Word, New American Bible, New American Standard Bible, New Century Version, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, New Revised Standard Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). It has majority commentary support and good version support. There is no conclusive evidence from the Old Testament that people tread olives to make oil.

The way olive oil was extracted at that time was to squeeze olives in an oil press under a heavy beam or to turn them into pulp with a millstone.

The way wine was made was to stomp with bare feet on grapes in a vat. The juice was collected and fermented to make wine.

In this verse the Hebrew word for “new wine” is a figure of speech (metonymy) for grapes. Most modern versions translate this word as grapes.

Here are some ways to translate these phrases:

• Use a generic word that refers to extracting liquid from fruit, if you have such a word in your language. For example:

You will squeeze oil from the olives…you will squeeze juice from the grapes (NET Bible)

• Use a separate word for each process. For example:

You will press your olives…You will trample the grapes (New Living Translation (2004))

• Describe the process of making oil and wine in a general way. For example:

You will make oil and wine

but not anoint yourselves with oil…but not drink the wine: Olive oil and wine were important products at that time. One use of olive oil was as a lotion to rub on skin. The word anoint has that meaning here. For example:

but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies (NET Bible)

Wine was especially important in places where water supplies were scarce and impure. Times of wine making were festive occasions. Having an abundance of wine was a cause of joy.

These descriptions were vivid, striking ways to express disruption of normal life. It is recommended that you keep these descriptions explicit in your translation if they will be understood.

However, in some language groups these products may be unknown. If that is true in your language, another option is to translate these descriptions in a general way. For example:

You won’t…use the oil from your olive trees or drink the wine from grapes you grow. (Contemporary English Version)

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