Psalms 78:25

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
People ate the bread of angels.He sent them an abundant supply of food.

Hebrew Names Version
Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.

King James Version
Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.

English Standard Version
Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.

New Century Version
So they ate the bread of angels. He sent them all the food they could eat.

New English Translation
Man ate the food of the mighty ones. He sent them more than enough to eat.

Amplified Bible
Man ate the bread of angels; God sent them provision in abundance.

New American Standard Bible
Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

World English Bible
Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Man did eate the bread of Angels: hee sent them meate ynough.

Legacy Standard Bible
Man ate the bread of angels;He sent them provision to satisfy.

Berean Standard Bible
Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

Contemporary English Version
He gave them more than enough, and each one of them ate this special food.

Complete Jewish Bible
mortals ate the bread of angels; he provided for them to the full.

Darby Translation
Man did eat the bread of the mighty; he sent them provision to the full.

Easy-to-Read Version
These people ate the food of angels. God sent plenty of food to satisfy them.

George Lamsa Translation
Man did eat angels food; he sent them game in abundance.

Good News Translation
So they ate the food of angels, and God gave them all they wanted.

Lexham English Bible
Humankind ate the bread of angels. He sent them food enough to be satisfied.

Literal Translation
Man ate the bread of the mighty; He sent them food to the full.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He rayned downe Manna vpo them for to eate, and gaue them bred from heauen.

American Standard Version
Man did eat the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full.

Bible in Basic English
Man took part in the food of strong ones; he sent them meat in full measure.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Man did eat the bread of the mighty; He sent them provisions to the full.

King James Version (1611)
Man did eate Angels food: hee sent them meat to the full.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
[So] man dyd eate the bread of angels: he sent them meate inough.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Man ate angels’ bread; he sent them provision to the full.

English Revised Version
Man did eat the bread of the mighty: he sent them meat to the full.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Man eet the breed of aungels; he sent to hem meetis in aboundance.

Update Bible Version
Man ate the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full.

Webster's Bible Translation
Man ate angels' food: he sent them food to the full.

New King James Version
Men ate angels' food; He sent them food to the full.

New Living Translation
They ate the food of angels! God gave them all they could hold.

New Life Bible
Men ate the bread of angels. He sent them all the food they could eat.

New Revised Standard
Mortals ate of the bread of angels; he sent them food in abundance.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The food of the mighty, each one did eat, Nourishment, sent he them to the full;

Douay-Rheims Bible
(77-25) Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.

Revised Standard Version
Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.

Young's Literal Translation
Food of the mighty hath each eaten, Venison He sent to them to satiety.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

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

Man: etc. Or, Every one did eat the bread of the mighty. Lechem abbeerim, "bread of the mighty" - they ate such food as could only be expected at the tables of the rich and great - the best, the most delicate food. Or, it might be so called because it rendered the people healthy and vigorous, and fit for their marches. Psalms 103:20

he sent: Exodus 16:8, Matthew 14:20, Matthew 15:37

Reciprocal: Exodus 16:4 - I will rain Exodus 16:35 - forty years Numbers 21:5 - and our soul Deuteronomy 29:6 - eaten bread Nehemiah 9:15 - gavest John 6:31 - He gave

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Man did eat angels' food,.... Or, "the bread of the mighty" d; such as Moses and Elijah ate of; so Arama; but Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it of the clouds, or skies, said to be strong,

Job 37:18 in which the manna was prepared, and let down: but rather the words may be read, "every man did eat the bread of the mighty ones"; of princes and nobles, and the great men of the earth; it was royal food, it was princely fare; and, indeed, the common people of Israel ate the same as their princes and nobles did; they all fared alike; but the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, render the word "angels", and so Jarchi interprets it, and who are called mighty angels, and are creatures that excel in strength, 2 Thessalonians 1:7 now the manna may be said to be their food, as it is in the Apocrypha:

"Instead whereof thou feddest thine own people with angels' food, and didst send them from heaven bread prepared without their labour, able to content every man's delight, and agreeing to every taste.'' (Wisdom 16:20)

because it might be prepared in the air by the ministry of angels, and given by their disposition, as the law was, Acts 7:53 or because it came down from heaven, where they dwell, and so the Targum,

"the children of men did eat food, which came down from the habitation of angels;''

or because it was most excellent food, as the tongue of angels is the most excellent and eloquent, 1 Corinthians 13:1, or because it was such food, that, if angels ate any, it was fit for them, and not at all unworthy of them. Cocceius thinks, and so Gussetius e, that by the mighty ones are meant the mighty God, Father, Son, and Spirit, by whom this food was prepared and given; so the word is used in the singular number, of Jehovah, who is called the mighty One of Jacob, Genesis 49:24 and of the Redeemer, Isaiah 49:26,

he sent them meat to the full; which may be understood either of the manna, of which they had great plenty, so that there was no lack for any man, and this continued with them till they came to the land of Canaan; or of the quails, of which in the following verses.

d אבירים "fortium", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. "magnificorum, potentium", Vatablus. e Comment. Ebr. p. 14. Vid. Witsium de Oeconom. Foeder. l. 4. c. 10. sect. 99.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Man did eat angels’ food - Food that came from heaven; food so directly and manifestly from heaven that it might be supposed to be the same kind that was eaten there, and that had now been sent down by a special miracle for man; food so delicate and so free from the ordinary coarse properties of food, that it might be supposed to be such as angels feed on. The word rendered “angels” - אביר 'abbı̂yr - means properly “strong, mighty,” and may be applied to people in general, Judges 5:22; Lamentations 1:15; Jeremiah 46:15; to animals, Psalms 22:13 (“bulls of Bashan”); to princes, Psalms 68:31; or to nobles, Job 24:22. It might be rendered here food of nobles, or princes; that is, food of richer quality, or of a more delicate nature, than common food; such as nobles or princes have on their tables. The immediate connection, however, would rather seem to demand the rendering in our version, as the food is said to have come down from heaven. It is rendered food of angels in the Septuagint, in the Latin Vulgate, in the ancient versions generally, and also by Luther. DeWette renders it, “Each one ate the food of princes;” that is, they all lived like princes.

He sent them meat to the full - Food to satisfy; or, as much as they wanted.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 78:25. Man did eat angels' food — לחם אבירים אכל איש lechem abbirim achal ish, "Man did eat the bread of the mighty ones;" or, each person ate, c. They ate such bread as could only be expected at the tables of the rich and great the best, the most delicate food. How little did this gross people know of the sublime excellence of that which they called light bread, and which they said their soul loathed; Numbers 21:5! It was a type of Jesus Christ, for so says St. Paul: "They all ate the same spiritual meat, and drank the same spiritual drink," c., 1 Corinthians 10:3-4. And our Lord calls himself "the bread that came down from heaven, that giveth life unto the world," John 6:31-35: but a Jew sees nothing but with the eyes of flesh. It is true their doctors or rabbins are full of allegories, mysteries, and conceits but they are, in general, such as would disgrace the Cabinet des Fees, and would not be tolerated in the nursery. O, how thick a veil hangs over their gross and hardened hearts.