Numbers 13:27

13:27 They told Moses, ¹  “We went to the land where you sent us. ²  It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, ³  and this is its fruit.

Numbers 14:8

14:8 If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land that is flowing with milk and honey. ⁴ 

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¹ tn Heb “told him and said.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The relative clause modifies “the land.” It is constructed with the relative and the verb: “where you sent us.”

³ sn This is the common expression for the material abundance of the land (see further, F. C. Fensham, “An Ancient Tradition of the Fertility of Palestine,” PEQ 98 [1966]: 166-67).

⁴ tn The subjective genitives “milk and honey” are symbols of the wealth of the land, second only to bread. Milk was a sign of such abundance (Gen 49:12; Isa 7:21,22). Because of the climate the milk would thicken quickly and become curds, eaten with bread or turned into butter. The honey mentioned here is the wild honey (see Deut 32:13; Judg 14:8-9). It signified sweetness, or the finer things of life (Ezek 3:3).