² sn Mandrake plants were popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac in the culture of the time.

² tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.

² tn Heb “with coals of the wood of the broom plant.” The wood of the broom plant was used to make charcoal, which in turn was used to fuel the fire used to forge the arrowheads.

⁴ sn Aloes refers to an aromatic resin from a plant similar to a lily, used for embalming a corpse.

⁷ sn Such fig trees would deplete the soil, robbing it of nutrients needed by other trees and plants.

¹ tn According to BDB 912 s.v. II רֹאשׁ the term can mean “a bitter and poisonous plant.”

² tn The noun עֵשֶּׂב (ʿesev) normally would indicate cultivated grains, but in this context seems to indicate plants in general.

¹ tn The Hebrew term עֵשֶׂב (ʿesev), when referring to human food, excludes grass (eaten by cattle) and woody plants like vines.

² sn Hyssop was a small aromatic bush; exact identification of the plant is uncertain. The hyssop used to lift the wet sponge may have been a form of reed (κάλαμος, kalamos, “reed,” is used in Matt 27:48 and Mark 15:36); the biblical name can refer to several different species of plant (at least eighteen different plants have been suggested).

³ tn The noun סוּף (suf) normally refers to “reeds,” freshwater plants that grow in Egyptian rivers and marshes (Exod 2:3, 5; Isa 10:19), but here it refers to “seaweed” (HALOT 747 s.v. סוּף 1). Though the same freshwater plants do not grow in the Mediterranean, the name may be seen to fit similarly long plants growing in seawater.

¹ sn The expression I planted is generally taken to mean that Paul founded the church at Corinth. Later Apollos had a significant ministry there (watered). See also v. 10.

³ tn Heb “Houses of chiseled stone you built, but you will not live in them. Fine vineyards you planted, but you will not drink their wine.”

⁶ sn Carmel was a region known for its abundant plants and trees. See Isa 33:9; 35:2; Jer 50:19.

¹ tn Heb “Don’t plant a vineyard, and it shall not be to you [= and you shall/must not have one].”

³ tn A מִדְבָּר (midbar, “wilderness”) receives less than twelve inches of rain per year and therefore cannot support trees and has little plant life.

³ sn This refers to crops that grew up on their own (that is, without cultivation) from the seed planted in past years.

¹ sn Tending fig trees requires closer attention than other plants; so the point here would be the diligent care that is required.

¹ tn Heb “The one who plants an ear, does he not hear? The one who forms an eye, does he not see?”

² tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.

² sn The place where the plant once grew will deny ever knowing it. Such is the completeness of the uprooting that there is not a trace left.