milk的意思是“牛奶”，honey有“蜂蜜”的含义，land有“土地”的含义，那land of milk and honey直译是“牛奶和蜂蜜的土地”，实际上并不是这个含义，那这句习语到底是什么意思？

land of milk and honey的意思是“a country where living conditions are good and people have the opportunity to make a lot of money”，即“鱼米之乡，丰裕之地，富饶的乐土”。

这句习语源于《出埃及记》，在第三章有这样一段话：

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

上面这段话，讲的是在上帝的指示下，摩西带领他的人民，也就是很多被迫做奴隶的人，摆脱束缚，走向自由。摩西向这些人许诺自己的土地。 而他拥有的土地是流溢着牛奶与蜂蜜的土地。

《圣经》中有个词名为“应许之地”，这个词出自《旧约·创世纪》，以色列的先祖和上帝做了约定，上帝应许其后代将拥有流溢着牛奶与蜂蜜的土地。所以milk and honey并不单单是“牛奶和蜂蜜”，其可以用于指代这样的应许之地。

因此，后来人们就把land of milk and honey表示“富饶的乐土”这样的含义。

例句：

This country is now the fancied land of milk and honey.

这个国家现在成了人们向往的丰裕之地

Many Mexicans regard the United States as a land of milk and honey.

许多墨西哥人把美国看成是富饶的乐土。

出处：见配图水印