Every Man 'Neath His Vine and Fig Tree

DESCRIPTION: "And every man 'neath his vine and fig tree Shall live in peace and (unafraid/none afraid). And into plowshares turn their swords, Nations shall learn war no more."
AUTHOR: Words paraphrased by Shalom Altman (1911-1986) (source: hymnary.org; Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook)
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (copyright, according to hymnary.org)
KEYWORDS: campsong
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 413, "Vine and Fig Tree" (1 text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 446, 552, "Every Man 'Neath His Vine and Fig Tree" (notes only)
SongsOfManyNations, "Vine and Fig Tree" (1 text, 1 tune) (12th edition, p. B)
DT, (ANDEVERY* -- converted to inclusive language)
NOTES [246 words]: The second part of this is a paraphrase of Isaiah 2:4=Micah 4:3, which in the King James Version reads "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah) or "And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Micah).
The first part is found only in Micah 4:4, " But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it."
The King James translation is fairly accurate. There is no agreement about whether Isaiah or Micah had the words first, or whether it was inserted into both books from some other source.
It seems to have gone into camp tradition very quickly, probably due to the excellent minor melody; I learned it, from young people, probably around 1990. Interestingly, my version cannot be sung to the Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook chords, which uses minor chords throughout; the version I learned is in minor for the lines "And every man 'neath his vine and fig tree Shall live in peace and unafraid," but shifts into major for "And into plowshares turn their swords." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: DTandeve

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