He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
Parallel translations
- WEB He rained also meat on them as the dust; winged birds as the sand of the seas.
- KJV He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
- NKJV He also rained meat on them like the dust, Feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;
- NASB When He rained meat upon them like the dust, Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas,
- NLT He rained down meat as thick as dust— birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!
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 meat as abundantly as dust and birds as numerous as sand. His provision overflowed beyond measure.
Overview
The hyperbolic images of dust and sand stress the sheer abundance of quail God sent. He answered their demand for meat lavishly, leaving no room to doubt His power. Yet, as the following verses show, abundance without faith becomes a snare rather than a blessing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Exod 16:12–13“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.’”
- Num 11:18–19And 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.
- Num 11:32All 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.
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 78:27 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.