Psalm 78:12-20
New Catholic Bible
12 He worked marvels in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt, in the Plain of Zoan.[a]
13 He divided the sea so that they could pass,
heaping up the waters as a mound.
14 He led them with a cloud by day,
and with the light of a fire by night.
15 He split open rocks in the wilderness
and gave them water to drink from limitless depths.
16 He brought forth streams from a rocky crag
and caused water to flow down in torrents.
17 [b]But they still sinned[c] against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.
18 They tested God’s patience
by demanding the food they craved.[d]
19 They railed against God, saying:
“Can God provide a banquet in the wilderness?
20 Certainly when he struck the rock,
water gushed forth and the streams overflowed.
But can he also give us bread
or provide meat for his people?”[e]
Footnotes
- Psalm 78:12 Zoan: a city in the Nile delta, capital of Egypt at the time of the Exodus.
- Psalm 78:17 The psalmist indicates that the Israelites rebelled against the Lord in the wilderness despite all kinds of marvels that he worked on their behalf. This led to the Lord’s anger against them.
- Psalm 78:17 Still sinned: the psalmist has mentioned no sin, but because of the theme of water in verse 16, he is reminded of the people’s murmuring over the lack of water at Marah (see Ex 15:24).
- Psalm 78:18 See Ex 16:2f.
- Psalm 78:20 See Ex 16:2f; Num 11:4.
