He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river.
Parallel translations
- WEB He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places.
- BSB He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.
- NKJV He opened the rock, and water gushed out; It ran in the dry places like a river.
- NASB He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river.
- NLT He split open a rock, and water gushed out to form a river through the dry wasteland.
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 opened the rock and water gushed out, flowing like a river in the desert. It matters because He gave abundant life-sustaining water in a barren place.
Overview
This recalls God providing water from the rock at Israel's need (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11). The water ran like a river through dry ground, a picture of overflowing grace. Paul writes that the rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), the source of living water for His thirsty people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Cor 10:4And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
- Num 20:11And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
- Exod 17:6Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
- Isa 48:21And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
- Ps 78:15–16He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
- Ps 114:8Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
- Ps 78:20Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?
- Neh 9:15And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 105:41 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.