Bible Strands
Numbers 20:11
Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses acts before the rebellious Israelite congregation gathered at Kadesh, immediately after demanding water and before God pronounces his exclusion from the Promised Land.
The words — The text highlights וַ/יַּ֧ךְ (va/i.Yakh), meaning "and he struck," and הַ/סֶּ֛לַע (ha./Se.la'), meaning "the rock," describing the physical action that produced the water.
The thread — This event echoes the earlier provision at Rephidim in Exodus 17:6 and is later referenced typologically in 1 Corinthians 10:4 and wilderness imagery in Deuteronomy 8:15.
Why it lands — The verse demands acknowledgment that obedience requires precise alignment with divine instruction, as the miraculous provision was accompanied by a direct divine rebuke for Moses' manner of execution.
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
And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Numbers 20:8 “Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”
- 1 Samuel 15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
- 1 Chronicles 15:13 It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the LORD our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.”
- Psalms 78:16 He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.
- Hosea 13:5 I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
- Matthew 28:20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
- James 1:20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.