1 Kings 10:3
And when thou shalt depart from thence, and go farther on, and shalt come to the oak of Thabor, there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Cumque abieris inde, et ultra transieris, et veneris ad quercum Thabor, invenient te ibi tres viri ascendentes ad Deum in Bethel, unus portans tres hædos, et alius tres tortas panis, et alius portans lagenam vini.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἀπελεύσει ἐκεῖθεν καὶ ἐπέκεινα ἥξεις ἕως τῆς δρυὸς Θαβώρ, καὶ εὑρήσεις ἐκεῖ τρεῖς ἄνδρας ἀναβαίνοντας πρὸς τὸν θεὸν εἰς Βαιθήλ, ἕνα αἴροντα τρία αἰγίδια καὶ ἕνα αἴροντα τρία ἀγγεῖα ἄρτων καὶ ἕνα αἴροντα ἀσκὸν οἴνου·
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְחָלַפְתָּ֨ מִשָּׁ֜ם וָהָ֗לְאָה וּבָ֨אתָ֙ עַד אֵל֣וֹן תָּב֔וֹר וּמְצָא֤וּךָ שָּׁם֙ שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֔ים עֹלִ֥ים אֶל הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים בֵּֽית אֵ֑ל אֶחָ֞ד נֹשֵׂ֣א שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה גְדָיִ֗ים וְאֶחָד֙ נֹשֵׂ֗א שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת֙ כִּכְּר֣וֹת לֶ֔חֶם וְאֶחָ֥ד נֹשֵׂ֖א נֵֽבֶל יָֽיִן
Haydock's commentary
Thabor, very distant from the famous mountain (Calmet) in Zabulon. (Menochius)
Bethel. Where there was at that time an altar of God; it being one of the places where Samuel judged Israel, (Challoner) and which had always been considered as a place of devotion, since Jacob had his vision, Genesis xxviii. 19. It lay to the east of Gabaa, so that Saul might easily meet these pilgrims. (Calmet)
Wine, for libations, as the other things were for a sacrifice and feast, as well as for presents to the officiating priests.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew XXVI. 17, 18
After this, because they knew him not, He gave them a sign, like as the prophet touching Saul, saying, “Thou shalt find one going up and carrying a bottle;”and here, “carrying a pitcher.” And see again the display of his power. For He did not only say, “I will keep the passover,” but He adds another thing also, “My time is at hand.” And this He did, at once continually reminding His disciples of the passion, so that exercised by the frequency of the prediction, they should be prepared for what was to take place; and at the same time to show to themselves, and to him that was receiving Him, and to all the Jews, which I have often mentioned, that not involuntarily doth He come to His passion. And He adds, “with my disciples,” in order that both the preparation should be sufficient, and that the man should not suppose that He was concealing Himself.
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).