Bible Strands
Psalms 78:16
He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses Israel's community, recounting the wilderness wanderings immediately after describing God splitting rocks to provide drink (Psalms 78:15) and before recording their continued rebellion (Psalms 78:17). This moment functions as a historical marker within a larger recitation of divine provision.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַ/יּוֹצִ֣א (va/i.yo.Tzi') means "he brought out," paired with נוֹזְלִ֣ים (noz.Lim), literally "dripping streams" or "flowing streams." These terms emphasize the continuous, liquid nature of the water emerging directly from the stone.
The thread — This provision echoes the wilderness narratives in Numbers 20:8 and Numbers 20:10, where water is drawn from a rock, and aligns with Deuteronomy 8:15, which recalls God leading the people through a waterless land to produce water. The imagery establishes a recurring pattern of divine sustenance in barren environments.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of God's direct intervention in sustaining life where natural sources fail. It requires the reader to acknowledge that provision precedes rebellion, making continued disobedience an unexcused rejection of demonstrated grace.
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
He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
Cross-references
- Numbers 20:10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen now, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”
- 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.”
- 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 105:41 He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.
- Deuteronomy 9:21 And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.