Bible Strands
Psalms 78:19
They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Israelites speak against God during their wilderness journey after demanding the food they craved. Their challenge arises at the moment God has struck a rock for water but has not yet supplied bread or meat.
The words — The Hebrew verb יְדַבְּרוּ (yədaḇbəru) means "they spoke," and the noun שׁוּלְחָן (šūlḥān) translates literally to "a table." These terms frame the accusation around God’s capacity to arrange provision in a barren place.
The thread — The text records this complaint pattern in Exodus 16:3 regarding meat in Egypt, Numbers 11:4 concerning a craving for other food, and Numbers 21:5 where the people question God’s purpose in bringing them to the desert.
Why it lands — The verse states that the people reduced God’s provision to a single location and demanded proof of His ability to feed them. It asks whether the reader will accept God’s past actions as sufficient or insist on testing His power to meet specific demands.
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
Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
Cross-references
- Numbers 21:5 and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
- 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?
- Exodus 16:3 “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”
- Exodus 16:8 And Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD.”
- Psalms 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
- Numbers 11:13 Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
- Numbers 20:3 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD!
- Job 34:37 For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”
- 2 Chronicles 32:19 They spoke against the God of Jerusalem as they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth—the work of human hands.
- Romans 9:20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”