In 5.29 Lamech, Noah’s father, prophesied or foretold that Noah would bring people relief from their hard work: “Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands.” See comments on 5.29. We now find Noah raising grapes, getting drunk, and becoming angry with his son.

First tiller of the soil: in Hebrew first does not mean that Noah was the first farmer, and so Revised Standard Version‘s rendering here is faulty. First or “began” is to be associated with planted; the sense is “Noah … began and planted,” or “began by planting…,” or “began the planting of vineyards” (New English Bible), or “was the originator of vineyards.”

Tiller of the soil is literally “a man of the ground.” The expression in Hebrew is not that used of Cain in 4.2, but the sense is parallel. Good News Translation identifies Noah as a farmer: “Noah, who was a farmer, was the first man….” Bible en français courant says “Noah was the first farmer to plant a vineyard.” We may also say, for example, “Noah was a farmer and the first man to plant a vineyard.” For discussion of tiller see 4.2. A farmer or tiller is sometimes called “a man who raises plants,” “a man who grows crops,” “a ground worker,” or “a garden maker.”

Planted a vineyard: vineyard refers to a garden for growing grapes or grapevines. For details of the grape and grapevine, see Fauna and Flora of the Bible, pages 188-192|fig:ffb_Vine.htm. In many areas where grapevines are unknown, it is possible to speak of “a garden for grapes,” in which the word for grape is borrowed from a major language. In some cases it may help to use a classifier and say, for example, “fruit called grape.”

In the present context it is the wine that is important, since it produced Noah’s drunkenness, and so translators must keep this in mind when selecting a local expression for vineyard or grapevine. A general term such as “fruit bush” or “fruit vine” may be inadequate, especially if such fruit is not customarily made into a fermented drink. Translators may consider including the information about grapevines being the source of wine in their translations, since this information was clearly understood from the text by the readers of the original. One translation, for instance, has “Noah was a gardener, and he was the first to make a plantation of grapevines from which wine is produced.” See also the discussion of the term “wine” in the next verse.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .