Limitless Word
He rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven.
Psalms 78:24 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them food from the sky.
  • KJV And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
  • BSB He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.
  • NKJV Had rained down manna on them to eat, And given them of the bread of heaven.
  • NLT He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them bread from heaven.

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 rained manna from the sky to feed the people daily. He supplied their need supernaturally even amid their complaining.

Overview

The daily gift of manna is recalled as 'food from the sky,' a sustained miracle of provision. Jesus directly references this in John 6, declaring that manna pointed beyond itself to Himself as the living bread that gives eternal life. Physical provision in the wilderness anticipates the spiritual feeding believers receive in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • Exod 16:4Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.
  • Ps 105:40They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the sky.
  • Deut 8:3He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.
  • John 6:31–71Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”
  • Neh 9:15and gave them bread from the sky for their hunger, and brought water out of the rock for them for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them.
  • Exod 16:14When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground.
  • Ps 68:9You, God, sent a plentiful rain. You confirmed your inheritance, when it was weary.
  • Neh 9:20You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and didn’t withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.
  • 1 Cor 10:3and all ate the same spiritual food;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 78:24YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 78:24 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.