Bible Strands
Exodus 17:6
Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks to Moses at Rephidim, where the people have been thirsting and complaining. Moses is to take elders and strike the rock at Horeb with the staff he used on the Nile.
The words — צוּר (tsur), "rock," is a specific named formation, not a generic boulder. הִכִּיתָ (hikkītā), "you will strike," is a direct imperative: the action is physical and singular.
The thread — Paul identifies this rock as Christ in 1 Corinthians 10:4; Numbers 20:9 repeats the pattern but Moses speaks instead of striking and is condemned; Nehemiah 9:15 recaps the event in Israel's confession.
Why it lands — The people tested God (v. 7); the answer is a specific act of obedience, not a negotiation. It asks the reader to see that provision is met through a commanded response, not through the people's merit or God's appeasement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 10:4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
- Numbers 20:9 So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he had been commanded.
- Nehemiah 9:15 In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land that You had sworn to give them.
- Psalms 105:41 He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.
- Deuteronomy 8:15 He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.
- Psalms 78:15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.
- John 4:10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
- Psalms 78:20 When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”
- Psalms 114:8 who turned the rock into a pool, the flint into a fountain of water!
- Isaiah 41:17 The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.