Exodus 17:5

17:5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; ¹  take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go.

Numbers 20:11

20:11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.

Psalms 78:15-16

78:15 He broke open rocks in the wilderness,

and gave them enough water to fill the depths of the sea. ² 

78:16 He caused streams to flow from the rock,

and made the water flow like rivers.

Psalms 105:41

105:41 He opened up a rock and water flowed out;

a river ran through dry regions.

Psalms 114:8

114:8 who turned a rock into a pool of water,

a hard rock into springs of water! ³ 

Isaiah 35:7

35:7 The dry soil will become a pool of water,

the parched ground springs of water.

Where jackals once lived and sprawled out,

grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.

Isaiah 35:1

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ⁴ 

let the wilderness ⁵  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

Colossians 1:4

1:4 since ⁶  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

¹ tn “Pass over before” indicates that Moses is the leader who goes first, and the people follow him. In other words, לִפְנֵי (lifney) indicates time and not place here (B. Jacob, Exodus, 477-78).

² tn Heb “and caused them to drink, like the depths, abundantly.”

³ sn In v. 8 the psalmist recalls the event(s) recorded in Exod 17:6 and/or Num 20:11 (see also Deut 8:15 and Ps 78:15-16, 20).

⁴ tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.

⁵ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”

⁶ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).