¹ tn Grk “one fig tree.”

¹ tn Heb “and they got [a fig cake].”

² tn Or “eat up your grapes and figs”; Heb “eat up your vines and your fig trees.”

³ tn L&N 3.37 states, “a fig produced late in the summer season (and often falling off before it ripens)—‘late fig.’ ὡς συκὴ βάλλει τοὺς ὀλύνθους αὐτῆς ὑπὸ ἀνέμου μεγάλου σειομένη ‘as the fig tree sheds its late figs when shaken by a great wind’ Re 6:13. In the only context in which ὄλυνθος occurs in the NT (Re 6:13), one may employ an expression such as ‘unripe fig’ or ‘fig which ripens late.’”

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

² tn Heb “I will turn them”; the referents (vines and fig trees) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.

¹ tn Heb “summer fruit.” “Summer fruit” is meaningless to most modern readers; dates and figs are what is involved.

² tn Heb “like the withering of a leaf from a vine, and like the withering from a fig tree.”

² sn Many have speculated about what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree. Meditating on the Messiah who was to come? A good possibility, since the fig tree was used as shade for teaching or studying by the later rabbis (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 5:11). Also, the fig tree was symbolic for messianic peace and plenty (Mic 4:4, Zech 3:10.)

² tn Or “hardship,” “damage.” BDAG 1022 s.v. ὕβρις 3 states, “fig. hardship, disaster, damage caused by the elements…w. ζημία Ac 27:10.”

³ sn The fig tree is a variation on the picture of a vine as representing the nation; see Isa 5:1-7.

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the man’s response as a result of the lack of figs in the preceding clause.

¹ sn The fig tree is a variation on the picture of a vine as representing the nation; see Isa 5:1-7.

⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the first ripe fruit of the previous line, rendered here as “their figs”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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 “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 Ironically, Sennacherib had recently planted fig trees along all the major avenues in Nineveh to help beautify the city, and had encouraged the citizens of Nineveh to eat from these fruit trees. How appropriate that Nineveh’s defenses would now be compared to fig trees whose fruit would be eaten by its enemies.

¹ sn The imagery of fellowship under his vine and under his fig tree describes the peaceful dominion of the Lord in the coming messianic age (Mic 4:4; cf. 1 Kgs 4:25).

² sn The basket of summer fruit (also in the following verse) probably refers to figs from the summer crop, which ripens in August-September. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 115.