Psalms 78:27

He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The psalmist narrates God’s past intervention to Israel during their wilderness journey, describing the precise moment divine winds delivered sustenance. The words — The text foregrounds `שְׁאֵר (she.'Er) = meat` and `ע֣וֹף (of) = bird[s] of`, specifying the physical substance of the provision. The thread — This description directly echoes the wilderness accounts in Exodus 16:12, Numbers 11:18, and Numbers 11:32. Why it lands — The passage first records that God supplied meat and birds in overwhelming quantities, then requires readers to acknowledge that physical sustenance originates from divine action rather than human preparation.

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

וַיַּמְטֵ֬רva/i.yam.Terand/ he rained down עֲלֵיהֶ֣ם'a.lei./Hemon/ them כֶּעָפָ֣רke./'a.Farlike <the>/ dust שְׁאֵ֑רshe.'Ermeat וּֽכְח֥וֹלu./khe./Choland/ like/ [the] sand of יַ֝מִּ֗יםya.Mim[the] seas ע֣וֹףofbird[s] of כָּנָֽף׃ka.Nafwing

King James Version

He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

Cross-references

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 11:18 And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, because you have cried out in the hearing of the LORD, saying: ‘Who will feed us meat? For we were better off in Egypt!’ Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat.
Numbers 11:32 All that day and night, and all the next day, the people stayed up gathering the quail. No one gathered less than ten homers, and they spread them out all around the camp.