Planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit: Lev 19.23-25 makes it clear that no fruit was to be harvested in the first three years; the fourth year’s harvest was to be offered to God, and only in the fifth year would the owner keep the fruit. In the case of a vineyard, the fruit is not the grapes as such but the wine that would be made from the grapes. The Hebrew verb translated enjoyed means “to appropriate for common use,” meaning that the first harvest had already been presented to the LORD; however, the Greek verb of the Septuagint means “to be happy,” “to rejoice.” Both Good News Translation and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh have “harvest the grapes.” We may say something like “planted a vineyard and has not yet had a chance to enjoy eating the grapes [or, drinking the wine].” For vineyard see 6.11.

The rest of the verse follows the same order as verse 5b.

Enjoy its fruit: or “enjoy drinking the wine.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .