Description
Sweet wine was wine (see Wine) to which a sweetening agent, such as honey, had been added.
Translation
NEH 8:10: Nehemiah orders the people to “eat choice foods and drink sweet drinks” (NJPSV). The “sweet drinks” are understood by the Vulgate to be wine sweetened with honey, which is likely (RSV “sweet wine”). Like NJPSV, many other translations have simply “sweet drinks” without specifying the type (NIV, REB).
ACT 2:13: In classical Greek the word gleukos could designate new wine, that is, grape juice in the initial stages of fermentation (or even unfermented grape juice). For this reason some translations have rendered it “new wine” (RSV). However, the chronology of ACT 2:13 seems to eliminate this possibility. The events described in ACT 2:0 could not have happened later than the middle of the month of June. This is well before grapes are harvested, and therefore there could have been no fermenting juice. It would have to be from wine from a previous harvest. Those who accused the disciples of being drunk would have known this. While there were methods for keeping such wine sweet, it would not have been “new.” Therefore it seems best to translate gleukos here as “sweet wine” or even “sweetened wine.” It is possible, and in many languages preferable, to translate the last clause of this verse as “They have been drinking” (REB) or “These people are drunk” (GNT).