Psalms 114:8

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

a hard rock into springs of water! ¹ 

Numbers 21:16-18

21:16 And from there they traveled ²  to Beer; ³  that is the well where the Lord spoke to Moses, “Gather the people and I will give them water.” 21:17 Then Israel sang ⁴  this song:

“Spring up, O well, sing to it!

21:18 The well which the princes ⁵  dug,

which the leaders of the people opened

with their scepters and their staffs.”

And from the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;

Numbers 21:2

21:2 So Israel made a vow ⁶  to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver ⁷  this people into our ⁸  hand, then we will utterly destroy ⁹  their cities.”

Numbers 3:16-20

3:16 So Moses numbered them according to the word ¹⁰  of the Lord, just as he had been commanded. ¹¹ 

The Summary of Families

3:17 These were the sons ¹²  of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

3:18 These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei. 3:19 The sons of Kohath by their families were: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 3:20 The sons of Merari by their families were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their clans.

Isaiah 35:6-7

35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,

the mute tongue will shout for joy;

for water will flow ¹³  in the desert,

streams in the wilderness. ¹⁴ 

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 41:17-19

41:17 The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none;

their tongues are parched from thirst.

I, the Lord, will respond to their prayers; ¹⁵ 

I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.

41:18 I will make streams flow down the slopes

and produce springs in the middle of the valleys.

I will turn the desert into a pool of water

and the arid land into springs.

41:19 I will make cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees grow in the wilderness;

I will make evergreens, firs, and cypresses grow together in the desert.

Isaiah 44:3-5

44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground ¹⁶ 

and cause streams to flow ¹⁷  on the dry land.

I will pour my spirit on your offspring

and my blessing on your children.

44:4 They will sprout up like a tree in the grass, ¹⁸ 

like poplars beside channels of water.

44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord,’

and another will use ¹⁹  the name ‘Jacob.’

One will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

and use the name ‘Israel.’” ²⁰ 

Ezekiel 47:6-12

47:6 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 47:7 When I had returned, I noticed ²¹  a vast number of trees on the banks of the river, on both sides. 47:8 He said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and flow down into the Arabah; when they enter the Dead Sea, ²²  where the sea is stagnant, ²³  the waters become fresh. ²⁴  47:9 Every living creature which swarms where the river ²⁵  flows will live; there will be many fish, for these waters flow there. It will become fresh ²⁶  and everything will live where the river flows. 47:10 Fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to En-eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea. ²⁷  47:11 But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty. 47:12 On both sides of the river’s banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” ²⁸ 

[114:8]  ¹ 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).

[21:16]  ² tn The words “they traveled” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied here because of English style. The same phrase is supplied at the end of v. 18.

[21:16]  ³ sn Isa 15:8 mentions a Moabite Beerelim, which Simons suggests is Wadi Ettemed.

[21:17]  ⁴ tn After the adverb “then” the prefixed conjugation has the preterite force. For the archaic constructions, see D. N. Freedman, “Archaic Forms in Early Hebrew Poetry,” ZAW 72 (1960): 101-7. The poem shows all the marks of being ancient.

[21:18]  ⁵ sn The brief song is supposed to be an old workers’ song, and so the mention of leaders and princes is unusual. Some think they are given credit because they directed where the workers were to dig. The scepter and staff might have served some symbolic or divining custom.

[21:2]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative with the verb: They vowed a vow. The Israelites were therefore determined with God’s help to defeat Arad.

[21:2]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text has the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of נָתַן (natan) to stress the point – if you will surely/indeed give.”

[21:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “my.”

[21:2]  ⁹ tn On the surface this does not sound like much of a vow. But the key is in the use of the verb for “utterly destroy” – חָרַם (kharam). Whatever was put to this “ban” or “devotion” belonged to God, either for his use, or for destruction. The oath was in fact saying that they would take nothing from this for themselves. It would simply be the removal of what was alien to the faith, or to God’s program.

[3:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “at the mouth of the Lord.”

[3:16]  ¹¹ tn The Pual perfect may be given the past perfect translation in this sentence because the act of commanding preceded the act of numbering.

[3:17]  ¹² tn The word “sons of” does at the outset refer to the sons of Levi. But as the listing continues the expression refers more to the family groups of the various descendants.

[35:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.”

[35:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”

[41:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “will answer them” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[44:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)

[44:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[44:4]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term בֵין (ven) is usually taken as a preposition, in which case one might translate, “among the grass.” But בֵין is probably the name of a tree (cf. C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 133). If one alters the preposition bet (בְּ) to kaf (כְּ), one can then read, “like a binu-tree.” (The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supports this reading.) This forms a nice parallel to “like poplars” in the next line. חָצִיר (khatsir) is functioning as an adverbial accusative of location.

[44:5]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text has a Qal verb form, “and another will call by the name of Jacob.” With support from Symmachus (an ancient Greek textual witness), some read the Niphal, “and another will be called by the name of Jacob.”

[44:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and by the name of Israel he will title.” Some, with support from several ancient versions, prefer to change the Piel (active) verb form to a Pual (passive), “and he will be titled by the name of Israel.”

[47:7]  ²¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[47:8]  ²² tn Heb “the sea,” referring to the Dead Sea. This has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[47:8]  ²³ tn Heb “to the sea, those which are brought out.” The reading makes no sense. The text is best emended to read “filthy” (i.e., stagnant). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:273.

[47:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the waters become healed.”

[47:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “two rivers,” perhaps under the influence of Zech 14:8. The translation follows the LXX and other ancient versions in reading the singular, which is demanded by the context (see vv. 5-7, 9b, 12).

[47:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “will be healed.”

[47:10]  ²⁷ sn The Great Sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea (also in vv. 15, 19, 20).

[47:12]  ²⁸ sn See Rev 22:1-2.