Mazmur 78:15-16

78:15 He broke open rocks in the wilderness,

and gave them enough water to fill the depths of the sea. ¹ 

78:16 He caused streams to flow from the rock,

and made the water flow like rivers.

Mazmur 78:20

78:20 Yes, ²  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 114:8

114:8 who turned a rock into a pool of water,

a hard rock into springs of water! ³ 

Keluaran 17:6

17:6 I will be standing ⁴  before you there on ⁵  the rock in Horeb, and you will strike ⁶  the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” ⁷  And Moses did so in plain view ⁸  of the elders of Israel.

Bilangan 20:11

20:11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.

Nehemia 9:15

9:15 You provided bread from heaven for them in their time of hunger, and you brought forth water from the rock for them in their time of thirst. You told them to enter in order to possess the land that you had sworn ⁹  to give them.

Yesaya 48:21

48:21 They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions;

he makes water flow out of a rock for them;

he splits open a rock and water flows out.’ ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 48:1

The Lord Appeals to the Exiles

48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, ¹¹ 

you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’

and are descended from Judah, ¹² 

who take oaths in the name of the Lord,

and invoke ¹³  the God of Israel –

but not in an honest and just manner. ¹⁴ 

Kolose 1:4

1:4 since ¹⁵  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

[78:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and caused them to drink, like the depths, abundantly.”

[78:20]  ² tn Heb “look.”

[114:8]  ³ sn In v. 8 the psalmist recalls the event(s) recorded in Exod 17:6 and/or Num 20:11 (see also Deut 8:15 and Ps 78:15-16, 20).

[17:6]  ⁴ tn The construction uses הִנְנִי עֹמֵד (hinni ’omed) to express the futur instans or imminent future of the verb: “I am going to be standing.”

[17:6]  sn The reader has many questions when studying this passage – why water from a rock, why Horeb, why strike the rock when later only speak to it, why recall the Nile miracles, etc. B. Jacob (Exodus, 479-80) says that all these are answered when it is recalled that they were putting God to the test. So water from the rock, the most impossible thing, cleared up the question of his power. Doing it at Horeb was significant because there Moses was called and told he would bring them to this place. Since they had doubted God was in their midst, he would not do this miracle in the camp, but would have Moses lead the elders out to Horeb. If people doubt God is in their midst, then he will choose not to be in their midst. And striking the rock recalled striking the Nile; there it brought death to Egypt, but here it brought life to Israel. There could be little further doubting that God was with them and able to provide for them.

[17:6]  ⁵ tn Or “by” (NIV, NLT).

[17:6]  ⁶ tn The form is a Hiphil perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it follows the future nuance of the participle and so is equivalent to an imperfect tense nuance of instruction.

[17:6]  ⁷ tn These two verbs are also perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive: “and [water] will go out…and [the people] will drink.” But the second verb is clearly the intent or the result of the water gushing from the rock, and so it may be subordinated.

[17:6]  sn The presence of Yahweh at this rock enabled Paul to develop a midrashic lesson, an analogical application: Christ was present with Israel to provide water for them in the wilderness. So this was a Christophany. But Paul takes it a step further to equate the rock with Christ, for just as it was struck to produce water, so Christ would be struck to produce rivers of living water. The provision of bread to eat and water to drink provided for Paul a ready analogy to the provisions of Christ in the gospel (1 Cor 10:4).

[17:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[9:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “had lifted your hand.”

[48:21]  ¹⁰ sn The translation above (present tense) assumes that this verse describes God’s provision for returning Babylonian exiles (see v. 20; 35:6; 49:10) in terms reminiscent of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exod 17:6).

[48:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”

[48:1]  ¹² tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.

[48:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”

[48:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).