³ tn Here “strong drink” probably refers to barley beer (cf. NIV, NCV “beer”).

¹ tn Heb “the mocking songs of the drinkers of beer.”

² sn Beer Sheba. See Gen 21:31; 28:10.

³ sn The verb forms a wordplay with the name Beer Sheba.

² tn Heb “I will foam at the mouth concerning wine and beer.”

¹ tn Heb “to Eglaim [is] her wailing, and [to] Beer Elim [is] her wailing.”

¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who arise early in the morning, [who] chase beer.”

² sn Beer Lahai Roi. See the note on this place name in Gen 24:62.

² tn Heb “and Abraham stayed in Beer Sheba.” This has been translated as a relative clause for stylistic reasons.

¹ tn The disjunctive clause supplies pertinent supplemental information. The past perfect is used because the following narrative records the treaty at Beer Sheba. Prior to this we are told that Isaac settled in Beer Sheba; presumably this treaty would have allowed him to do that. However, it may be that he settled there and then made the treaty by which he renamed the place Beer Sheba. In this case one may translate “Now Abimelech came to him.”

³ sn The Negev is the area of central, southern Judah, south of the hill country and Beer Sheba and west of the rift valley.

³ sn The metaphors of silver becoming impure and beer being watered down picture the moral and ethical degeneration that had occurred in Jerusalem.

¹ sn Wine and beer should be given to those distressed and dying in order to ease their suffering and help them forget.

¹ tn The word ordinarily means “to oppress.” So many commentators have proposed suitable changes: “overflows” (Beer), “gushes” (Duhm), “swells violently” (Dhorme, from a word that means “be strong”).

² sn The Negev is an area of central, southern Judah, south of the hill country and Beer Sheba and west of the rift valley.

¹ tn Heb “Judah and Israel lived securely, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beer Sheba, all the days of Solomon.”

¹ sn The Negev is the area of central, southern Judah, south of the hill country and Beer Sheba and west of the rift valley.

² sn Kadesh is Ain Qadeis, about 50 miles (83 km) south of Beer Sheba. It is called Kadesh Barnea in Num 32:8.

¹ sn The drinks are wine and barley beer (e.g., Lev 10:9; Deut 14:26; Isa 28:7). These terms here could be understood as personifications, but better as metonymies for those who drink wine and beer. The inebriated person mocks and brawls.

¹ tn The operative verb now will be the Hiphil of נָזַר (nazar); the consecration to the Lord meant separation from certain things in the world. The first will be wine and strong drink—barley beer (from Akkadian sikaru, a fermented beer). But the second word may be somewhat wider in its application than beer. The Nazirite, then, was to avoid all intoxicants as a sign of his commitment to the Lord. The restriction may have proved a hardship in the daily diet of the one taking the vow, but it spoke a protest to the corrupt religious and social world that used alcohol to excess.