Bible Strands
Psalms 105:40
They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the worshiping assembly, recounting God’s wilderness provision immediately after describing the cloud and fire that covered and illuminated the camp.
The words — The Hebrew שְׂלָו (se.Lav) denotes "quail," and the phrase לֶחֶם שָׁמַיִם (Le.chem Sha.Ma.yim) literally renders "bread of heavens."
The thread — This event runs parallel to the manna account in Deuteronomy 8:3 and the quail delivery in Numbers 11:31, while Psalm 78:18 records the identical demand as willful testing.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to acknowledge that God meets human need on His own initiative, distinguishing sovereign sustenance from conditional reward for testing.
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
The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
Cross-references
- Psalms 78:18 They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
- Numbers 11:31 Now a wind sent by the LORD came up, drove in quail from the sea, and brought them near the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the ground, for a day’s journey in every direction around the camp.
- Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
- Joshua 5:12 And the day after they had eaten from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. There was no more manna for the Israelites, so that year they began to eat the crops of the land of Canaan.
- Nehemiah 9:20 You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst.
- Psalms 78:23 Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.
- John 6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
- John 6:48 I am the bread of life.
- Exodus 16:12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’”
- Numbers 11:4 Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?