who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with venomous snakes and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who poured water for you out of the rock of flint;
Parallel translations
- KJV Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
- BSB 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.
- NKJV who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock;
- NASB He who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions, and its thirsty ground where there was no water; He who brought water for you out of the rock of flint.
- NLT Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God led Israel through a terrible wilderness of snakes, scorpions, and drought, and gave water from the rock of flint. He sustained them through deadly dangers.
Overview
Moses recalls the perils of the wilderness and God's miraculous provision of water from hard rock. These memories prove God's power to preserve his people in impossible conditions. Paul identifies that life-giving rock with Christ, the source of living water for all who thirst.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Num 20:11Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.
- Num 21:6Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died.
- Jer 2:6They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?’
- Deut 1:19We traveled from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea.
- Ps 114:8who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters.
- Isa 63:12–14Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand? Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name?
- 1 Cor 10:4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
- Hos 13:5I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
- Ps 78:15–16He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
- Exod 17:5–6Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go.
- Isa 35:7The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.
- Ps 105:41He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places.
- Ps 136:16To him who led his people through the wilderness; for his loving kindness endures forever:
- Deut 32:13He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 8:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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