3:6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; 1
it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. 2
The sun will set on these prophets,
and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. 3
6:15 You will plant crops, but will not harvest them;
you will squeeze oil from the olives, 4 but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies; 5
you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink. 6
1 tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”
sn The coming of night (and darkness in the following line) symbolizes the cessation of revelation.
2 tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”
sn The reading of omens (Heb “divination”) was forbidden in the law (Deut 18:10), so this probably reflects the prophets’ view of how they received divine revelation.
3 tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”
4 tn Heb “you will tread olives.” Literally treading on olives with one’s feet could be harmful and would not supply the necessary pressure to release the oil. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 119. The Hebrew term דָּרַךְ (darakh) may have an idiomatic sense of “press” here, or perhaps the imagery of the following parallel line (referring to treading grapes) has dictated the word choice.
5 tn Heb “but you will not rub yourselves with oil.”
6 tn Heb “and juice, but you will not drink wine.” The verb תִדְרֹךְ (tidrokh, “you will tread”) must be supplied from the preceding line.