land of milk and honey

English

Etymology

From English translations of Exodus 3:7-8. Calque of Biblical Hebrew אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ.

Noun

land of milk and honey

1. An imaginary or real land of abundance, particularly the Land of Israel.
   • traditional, Exodus 3:7–8:

     Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”

Translations

a land of abundance

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 魚米之鄉／鱼米之乡 (zh) (yúmǐzhīxiāng)

• Hebrew: אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ (he) f (éretz zavát ẖaláv udvásh)
• Hungarian: tejjel-mézzel folyó Kánaán (more common as a saying than the literal tejjel-mézzel folyó föld/ország)
• Italian: bengodi (it) m
• Polish: kraina mlekiem i miodem płynąca (pl) f, kraj mlekiem i miodem płynący m, ziemia mlekiem i miodem płynąca (pl) f
• Portuguese: terra de leite e mel f, terra do leite e mel f
• Russian: земля́ обетова́нная (ru) f (zemljá obetovánnaja)

See also

• land of opportunity