Mazmur 78:18-20

78:18 They willfully challenged God ¹ 

by asking for food to satisfy their appetite.

78:19 They insulted God, saying, ² 

“Is God really able to give us food ³  in the wilderness?

78:20 Yes, ⁴  he struck a rock and water flowed out,

streams gushed forth.

But can he also give us food?

Will he provide meat for his people?”

Mazmur 78:40-41

78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,

and insulted him ⁵  in the desert!

78:41 They again challenged God, ⁶ 

and offended ⁷  the Holy One of Israel. ⁸ 

Mazmur 78:56

78:56 Yet they challenged and defied ⁹  the sovereign God, ¹⁰ 

and did not obey ¹¹  his commands. ¹² 

Mazmur 95:8-11

95:8 He says, ¹³  “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, ¹⁴ 

like they were that day at Massah ¹⁵  in the wilderness, ¹⁶ 

95:9 where your ancestors challenged my authority, ¹⁷ 

and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ¹⁸  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ¹⁹ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ²⁰ 

95:11 So I made a vow in my anger,

‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’” ²¹ 

[78:18]  ¹ tn Heb “and they tested God in their heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the center of their volition.

[78:19]  ² tn Heb “they spoke against God, they said.”

[78:19]  ³ tn Heb “to arrange a table [for food].”

[78:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “look.”

[78:40]  ⁵ tn Or “caused him pain.”

[78:41]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they returned and tested God.” The Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”) is used here in an adverbial sense to indicate that an earlier action was repeated.

[78:41]  ⁷ tn Or “wounded, hurt.” The verb occurs only here in the OT.

[78:41]  ⁸ sn The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior. This expression is a common title for the Lord in the book of Isaiah.

[78:56]  ⁹ tn Or “tested and rebelled against.”

[78:56]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “God, the Most High.”

[78:56]  ¹¹ tn Or “keep.”

[78:56]  ¹² tn Heb “his testimonies” (see Ps 25:10).

[95:8]  ¹³ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the following words are spoken by the Lord (see vv. 9-11).

[95:8]  ¹⁴ sn The name Meribah means “strife.” Two separate but similar incidents at Meribah are recorded in the Pentateuch (Exod 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13, see also Pss 81:7; 106:32). In both cases the Israelites complained about lack of water and the Lord miraculously provided for them.

[95:8]  ¹⁵ sn The name Massah means “testing.” This was another name (along with Meribah) given to the place where Israel complained following the Red Sea Crossing (see Exod 17:1-7, as well as Deut 6:16; 9:22; 33:8).

[95:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do not harden your heart[s] as [at] Meribah, as [in] the day of Massah in the wilderness.”

[95:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “where your fathers tested me.”

[95:10]  ¹⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

[95:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.

[95:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “my resting place.” The promised land of Canaan is here viewed metaphorically as a place of rest for God’s people, who are compared to sheep (see v. 7).