Psalms 78:18

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They deliberately tested God,demanding the food they craved.

Hebrew Names Version
They tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.

King James Version
And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

English Standard Version
They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.

New Century Version
They decided to test God by asking for the food they wanted.

New English Translation
They willfully challenged God by asking for food to satisfy their appetite.

Amplified Bible
And in their hearts they put God to the test By asking for food according to their [selfish] appetite.

New American Standard Bible
And in their heart they put God to the test By asking for food that suited their taste.

World English Bible
They tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And tempted God in their heartes in requiring meate for their lust.

Legacy Standard Bible
And in their heart they put God to the testBy asking for food according to their desire.

Berean Standard Bible
They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.

Contemporary English Version
They stubbornly tested God and demanded from him what they wanted to eat.

Complete Jewish Bible
in their hearts they tested God by demanding food that would satisfy their cravings.

Darby Translation
And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust;

Easy-to-Read Version
Then they decided to test God by telling him to give them the food they wanted.

George Lamsa Translation
And they tempted God in their hearts by asking food to satisfy their desires.

Good News Translation
They deliberately put God to the test by demanding the food they wanted.

Lexham English Bible
And they tested God in their heart by asking food for their craving.

Literal Translation
And they tested God in their heart, by asking food for their souls.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yet for all this they synned agaynst him, and prouoked the most hyest in the wildernesse.

American Standard Version
And they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.

Bible in Basic English
Testing God in their hearts, requesting meat for their desire.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they tried God in their heart by asking food for their craving.

King James Version (1611)
And they tempted God in their heart: by asking meat for their lust.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And they temped god in their heartes: in requiring meate for their lust.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they tempted God in their hearts, in asking meat for the desire of their souls.

English Revised Version
And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei temptiden God in her hertis; that thei axiden meetis to her lyues.

Update Bible Version
And they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire.

Webster's Bible Translation
And they tempted God in their heart by asking food for their desire.

New King James Version
And they tested God in their heart By asking for the food of their fancy.

New Living Translation
They stubbornly tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved.

New Life Bible
They tested God in their hearts by asking for the food they wanted.

New Revised Standard
They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
They put GOD to the proof in their heart, By asking food to their mind:

Douay-Rheims Bible
(77-18) And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.

Revised Standard Version
They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.

Young's Literal Translation
And they try God in their heart, To ask food for their lust.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire.

Contextual Overview

⁹The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth, ran off when the battle began. They were cowards to God's Covenant, refused to walk by his Word. They forgot what he had done— marvels he'd done right before their eyes. He performed miracles in plain sight of their parents in Egypt, out on the fields of Zoan. He split the Sea and they walked right through it; he piled the waters to the right and the left. He led them by day with a cloud, led them all the night long with a fiery torch. He split rocks in the wilderness, gave them all they could drink from underground springs; He made creeks flow out from sheer rock, and water pour out like a river. ¹⁷All they did was sin even more, rebel in the desert against the High God. They tried to get their own way with God, clamored for favors, for special attention. They whined like spoiled children, "Why can't God give us a decent meal in this desert? Sure, he struck the rock and the water flowed, creeks cascaded from the rock. But how about some fresh-baked bread? How about a nice cut of meat?" ²¹When God heard that, he was furious— his anger flared against Jacob, he lost his temper with Israel. It was clear they didn't believe God, had no intention of trusting in his help. But God helped them anyway, commanded the clouds and gave orders that opened the gates of heaven. He rained down showers of manna to eat, he gave them the Bread of Heaven. They ate the bread of the mighty angels; he sent them all the food they could eat. He let East Wind break loose from the skies, gave a strong push to South Wind. This time it was birds that rained down— succulent birds, an abundance of birds. He aimed them right for the center of their camp; all round their tents there were birds. They ate and had their fill; he handed them everything they craved on a platter. But their greed knew no bounds; they stuffed their mouths with more and more. Finally, God was fed up, his anger erupted— he cut down their brightest and best, he laid low Israel's finest young men. ³²And—can you believe it?—they kept right on sinning; all those wonders and they still wouldn't believe! So their lives dribbled off to nothing— nothing to show for their lives but a ghost town. When he cut them down, they came running for help; they turned and pled for mercy. They gave witness that God was their rock, that High God was their redeemer, But they didn't mean a word of it; they lied through their teeth the whole time. They could not have cared less about him, wanted nothing to do with his Covenant. ³⁸And God? Compassionate! Forgave the sin! Didn't destroy! Over and over he reined in his anger, restrained his considerable wrath. He knew what they were made of; he knew there wasn't much to them, How often in the desert they had spurned him, tried his patience in those wilderness years. Time and again they pushed him to the limit, provoked Israel's Holy God. How quickly they forgot what he'd done, forgot their day of rescue from the enemy, When he did miracles in Egypt, wonders on the plain of Zoan. He turned the River and its streams to blood— not a drop of water fit to drink. He sent flies, which ate them alive, and frogs, which bedeviled them. He turned their harvest over to caterpillars, everything they had worked for to the locusts. He flattened their grapevines with hail; a killing frost ruined their orchards. He pounded their cattle with hail, let thunderbolts loose on their herds. His anger flared, a wild firestorm of havoc, An advance guard of disease-carrying angels to clear the ground, preparing the way before him. He didn't spare those people, he let the plague rage through their lives. He killed all the Egyptian firstborns, lusty infants, offspring of Ham's virility. Then he led his people out like sheep, took his flock safely through the wilderness. He took good care of them; they had nothing to fear. The Sea took care of their enemies for good. He brought them into his holy land, this mountain he claimed for his own. He scattered everyone who got in their way; he staked out an inheritance for them— the tribes of Israel all had their own places.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

by asking meat: Psalms 106:14, Psalms 106:15, Exodus 16:2, Exodus 16:3, Numbers 11:4, 1 Corinthians 10:6, James 4:2, James 4:3

Reciprocal: Exodus 17:2 - wherefore Psalms 95:9 - When Psalms 105:40 - asked Malachi 3:15 - they that tempt Matthew 4:7 - Thou Matthew 6:31 - What shall we eat Acts 5:9 - to tempt 1 Corinthians 10:9 - tempt Hebrews 3:8 - of 1 John 2:16 - the lust of the flesh Revelation 18:14 - thy soul

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they tempted God in their heart,.... Which is desperately wicked, and from whence all impiety flows; they entertained hard thoughts of God; they inwardly fretted at their present circumstances, and secretly repined and murmured against God, and wished for things they should not; not being contented with what they had, and thankful for them, as they ought to have been:

by asking meat for their lust; or, "for their soul"; such as their souls lusted after, and their sensitive appetites craved; for they were not satisfied with the bread they had, which was sufficient for their sustenance and support; they wanted food for pleasure and wantonness; to ask for daily bread is right, but to ask for more to consume on our lusts is wrong, James 4:3.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they tempted God in their heart - Exodus 16:2. The heart was the source of the evil. They were not satisfied with what he gave them. They asked for that which would be more agreeable to them, and they did it with a complaining and a murmuring spirit. It is not wrong in itself to ask of God that which will be better than what we now possess, for that is the object of all our prayers; but this may be done from a wrong motive - for mere self-gratification, as was the case here; or it may be with a complaining and dissatisfied spirit, such as was evinced on this occasion. In such a case we cannot expect the prayer to be answered “except as a punishment.”

By asking meat for their lust - Food. The word “meat” here does not necessarily denote animal food, as it does with us. They asked another kind of food than manna; and they did it, not because this was “necessary” to sustain life, but in order to gratify their appetites. The original word here, however, is not “lusts,” but “souls;” that is, “they asked food for themselves.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 78:18. By asking meat for their lust. — לנפשם lenaphsham, "for their souls," i.e., for their lives; for they said in their hearts that the light bread, the manna, was not sufficient to sustain their natural force, and preserve their lives. It seems, however, from the expression, that they were wholly carnal; that they had no spirituality of mind; they were earthly, animal, and devilish.