^35:6But they answered, “We do not drink wine because our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us not to. He told us, ‘You and your children must never drink wine. ^35:7Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one.⁸ Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will⁹ live a long time in the land that you wander about on.’¹⁰^35:8We and our wives and our sons and daughters have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. We have never drunk wine.¹¹^35:9We have not built any houses to live in. We do not own any vineyards, fields, or crops. ^35:10We have lived in tents. We have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab and done exactly as he commanded us.¹²

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Footnotes

8 Heb “Don’t plant a vineyard and it shall not be to you [= and you shall/must not have one].”
9 Heb “Don’t … and don’t … but live … in order that you might.…”
10 Heb “where you are sojourning.” The terms “sojourn” and “sojourner” referred to a person who resided in a country not his own, without the rights and privileges of citizenship as a member of a nation, state, or principality. In the ancient Near East such people were dependent on the laws of hospitality rather than the laws of state for protection and provision of legal rights. Perhaps the best illustration of this is Abraham who “sojourned” among the Philistines and the Hittites in Canaan and was dependent upon them for grazing and water rights and for a place to bury his wife (cf. Gen 20–24). What is described here is the typical lifestyle of a nomadic tribe.
11 Heb “We have not drunk wine all our days.” Actually vv. 8b–9a are a series of infinitive constructs plus the negative לְבִלְתִּי (lévilti) explaining the particulars of how they have obeyed, i.e., by not drinking wine … and by not building.…” The more direct declarative statement is used here to shorten the sentence and is more in keeping with contemporary style.
12 Heb “We have obeyed and done according to all which our ancestor Jonadab commanded us.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever. You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’ We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops. We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

But they replied, “We do not drink wine, for Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, commanded, ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. You must not build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Rather, you must live in tents your whole life, so you may live a long time on the soil where you stay as a resident alien.’ We have obeyed Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, in all he commanded us. So we haven’t drunk wine our whole life—we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters. We also have not built houses to live in and do not have vineyard, field, or seed. But we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done everything our ancestor Jonadab commanded us.

NLTNew Living Translation

but they refused. “No,” they said, “we don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jehonadab son of Recab gave us this command: ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. And do not build houses or plant crops or vineyards, but always live in tents. If you follow these commands, you will live long, good lives in the land.’ So we have obeyed him in all these things. We have never had a drink of wine to this day, nor have our wives, our sons, or our daughters. We haven’t built houses or owned vineyards or farms or planted crops. We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed all the commands of Jehonadab, our ancestor.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

But they answered, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your children, forever. And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard, and it shall not be for you, but in tents you shall live all your days, so that you may live many days on the surface of the land where you are dwelling as aliens.’ And we obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, and not to build houses for our living, and there is not vineyard, or field, or seed for us. But we have lived in tents, and we have obeyed, and we have done all that Jehonadab, our ancestor, commanded us.

KJV 1900King James Version

But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

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