The meaning of Fatness in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
fat'-nes (deshen; piotes):
1. Literal:
The translation of deshen (Judges 9:9, "But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness?"; Job 36:16 (of food)), "full of fatness"; of chelebh, "fat," "the best part," "the marrow" (Job 15:27; Psalms 73:7; Isaiah 34:6-7); of mishman, "fathess," "fertility" (Genesis 27:28, "the fatness of the earth"; Isaiah 17:4, "the fatness of his flesh"); of shemen, "fatness," "oil" (Psalms 109:24); of piotes, "fat," "fatness" (Romans 11:17, "partaker .... of the root of the fatness of the olive tree").
2. Figurative:
"Fatness" is used figuratively for the richness of God's goodness; as such it is the translation of deshen ("They shall be abundantly satisfied (margin "Hebrew watered") with the fatness of thy house" (Psalms 36:8); "Thy paths drop fatness" (Psalms 65:11; compare Isaiah 55:2; Jeremiah 31:14).
"With fatness" is supplied, Deuteronomy 32:15 the King James Version, "covered with fatness"; the Revised Version (British and American) has "become sleek"; for "The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing" (Isaiah 10:27) the American Standard Revised Version has "by reason of fatness," margin "Hebrew oil"; the English Revised Version as the King James Version, with margin as the American Standard Revised Version; the text is believed to be corrupt; Septuagint has "from your shoulders."
W. L. Walker
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