Exodus 17:6

New Life Version

See, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. When you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink." And Moses did so, with the leaders of Israel watching.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horev. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." Moshe did so in the sight of the Zakenim of Yisra'el.

King James Version
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Lexham English Bible
Look, I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out from it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel.

New Century Version
I will stand in front of you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Hit that rock with the stick, and water will come out of it so that the people can drink." Moses did these things as the elders of Israel watched.

New English Translation
I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink." And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel.

Amplified Bible
"Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; there you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may [have something to] drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

New American Standard Bible
"Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Behold, I will stand there before thee vpon the rocke in Horeb, and thou shalt smite on the rocke, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drinke. And Moses did so in the sight of the Elders of Israel.

Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Contemporary English Version
and when you get to the rock at Mount Sinai, I will be there with you. Strike the rock with the stick, and water will pour out for the people to drink." Moses did this while the leaders watched.

Complete Jewish Bible
I will stand in front of you there on the rock in Horev. You are to strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so the people can drink." Moshe did this in the sight of the leaders of Isra'el.

Darby Translation
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock on Horeb; and thou shalt strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel.

Easy-to-Read Version
I will stand before you on a rock at Horeb. Hit that rock with the walking stick and water will come out of it. Then the people can drink." Moses did these things and the elders of Israel saw it.

English Standard Version
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

George Lamsa Translation
Behold, I will stand before you there on the flinty rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the flinty rock, and there shall gush water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Good News Translation
I will stand before you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." Moses did so in the presence of the leaders of Israel.

Christian Standard Bible®
I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Literal Translation
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. And you shall smite the rock, and water will come out of it; and the people will drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, I wyl stonde there before the vpon a rock in Horeb, there shalt thou smyte the rocke, so shall there water runne out, that the people maye drynke. Moses dyd so before the elders of Israel.

American Standard Version
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Bible in Basic English
See, I will take my place before you on the rock in Horeb; and when you give the rock a blow, water will come out of it, and the people will have drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the chiefs of Israel.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Beholde, I stande before thee vpon the rocke that is in Horeb, & thou shalt smyte the rocke, and there shall come water out thereof, that the people may drinke. And Moyses dyd euen so before the eyes of the elders of Israel.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.' And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

King James Version (1611)
Behold, I will stand before thee there, vpon the rocke in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rocke, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drinke. And Moses did so, in the sight of the Elders of Israel.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Behold, I stand there before thou come, on the rock in Choreb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and water shall come out from it, and the people shall drink. And Moses did so before the sons of Israel.

English Revised Version
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Berean Standard Bible
Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb; when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y schal stonde there before thee, aboue the stoon of Oreb, and thou schalt smyte the stoon, and water schal go out therof, that the puple drynke. Moises dide so byfore the eldere men of Israel;

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, I am standing before thee there on the rock in Horeb, and thou hast smitten on the rock, and waters have come out from it, and the people have drunk.' And Moses doth so before the eyes of the elders of Israel,

Update Bible Version
Look, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, I will stand before thee there on the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

World English Bible
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

New King James Version
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

New Living Translation
I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink." So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.

New Revised Standard
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink." Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Behold me! standing before thee, there upon the rock in Horeb, then shalt thou smite the rock and there shall come forth therefrom water, and the people shall drink. And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold I will stand there before thee, upon the rock Horeb, and thou shalt strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink. Moses did so before the ancients of Israel:

Revised Standard Version
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Contextual Overview

¹ All the people of Israel left the Desert of Sin, traveling from one place to another as the Lord told them. They set up their tents at Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink. ² So the people argued with Moses, saying, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you argue with me? Why do you test the Lord?" ³ But the people were thirsty there for water. They complained against Moses, saying, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and animals with thirst?" ⁴ So Moses called to the Lord, saying, "What should I do with these people? They are almost ready to throw stones at me." ⁵ The Lord said to Moses, "Pass in front of the people and take some of the leaders of Israel with you. Take the special stick in your hand with which you hit the Nile, and go. ⁶ See, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. When you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink." And Moses did so, with the leaders of Israel watching. ⁷ He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the arguing of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will: Exodus 16:10

the rock: This rock, which is a vast block of red granite, 15 feet long, 10 broad, and 12 high, lies in the wilderness of Rephidim, to the west of Mount Horeb, a part of Sinai. There are abundant traces of this wonderful miracle remaining at this day. This rock has been visited, drawn, and described by Dr. Shaw and others; and holes and channels appear in the stone, which could only have been formed by the bursting out and running of water.

in Horeb: Exodus 3:1-5

and thou: Numbers 20:9-11, Deuteronomy 8:15, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalms 78:15, Psalms 78:16, Psalms 78:20, Psalms 105:41, Psalms 114:8, Isaiah 48:21, 1 Corinthians 10:4

that the people: Psalms 46:4, Isaiah 41:17, Isaiah 41:18, Isaiah 43:19, Isaiah 43:20, John 4:10, John 4:14, John 7:37, John 7:38, Revelation 22:17

Reciprocal: Exodus 7:20 - he lifted Numbers 20:11 - the water Numbers 21:16 - Gather Deuteronomy 1:6 - in Horeb Deuteronomy 9:21 - the brook 2 Kings 3:17 - that ye may Nehemiah 9:20 - gavest Psalms 74:15 - cleave Psalms 81:7 - proved Proverbs 25:25 - cold Isaiah 35:6 - for Habakkuk 3:9 - Thou

Cross-References

Genesis 17:4
"See, My agreement is with you. You will be the father of many nations.

Genesis 17:6
Many will come from you. I will make nations of you. Kings will come from you.

Genesis 17:16
And I will bring good to her. I will give you a son by her. I will bring good to her. And she will be the mother of nations. Kings of many people will come from her."

Genesis 17:17
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed. He said to himself, "Will a child be born to a man who is 100 years old?

Genesis 17:20
As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will bring good to him. I will make him grow in number. He will be the father of twelve rulers. I will make him a great nation.

Genesis 35:11
Then God said to him, "I am the All-powerful God. Have many children and add to your number. A nation and a group of nations will come from you. Kings will come from you.

Ezra 4:20
Powerful kings have ruled over Jerusalem, who ruled over all the lands on the other side of the River, and taxes were paid to them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb,.... Or "upon that rock" k, a particular rock which was pointed unto, where the Lord in the pillar of cloud would stand; not as a mere spectator of this affair, but as a director of Moses where to smite the rock; and to exert his power in producing water from it, and by his presence to encourage Moses to do it, and to expect and believe the issue of it:

and thou shalt smite the rock: or "on the rock", or "in it" l; which made Jarchi fancy that the rod of Moses was something very hard, that it was a sapphire by which the rock was cleft:

and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink, they, their children, and their cattle, ready to die for thirst. Thus God showed himself gracious and merciful to a murmuring and ungrateful people:

and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel; he smote the rock with his rod, and the waters gushed out in great abundance, like streams and rivers, for the refreshment of the people, and their flocks, Psalms 78:20. The Heathens have preserved some footsteps of this miracle in their writings, though disguised. Pausanias m speaks of a fountain of cold water springing out of a rock, and reports how Atalantes, coming from hunting thirsty, smote a rock with his spear, and water flowed out. This rock at Rephidim, and the apertures through which the waters flowed, are to be seen to this day, as travellers of veracity relate. Monsieur Thevenot n says the rock at Rephidim is only a stone of a prodigious height and thickness, rising out of the ground: on the two sides of that stone we saw several holes, by which the water hath run, as may be easily known by the prints of the water, which hath much hollowed it, but at present no water issues out of them. A later traveller o gives us a more distinct account of it: after we had descended the western side of this Mount (Sinai), says he, we came into the plain or wilderness of Rephidim, where we saw that extraordinary antiquity, the rock of Meribah, which was continued to this day, without the least injury from time or accidents. This is rightly called, from its hardness, Deuteronomy 8:15, צור החלמיש, "a rock of flint", though, from the purple or reddish colour of it, it may be rather rendered the rock of חלם or אחלמה, amethyst, or the amethystine, or granite rock. It is about six yards square, lying tottering as it were, and loose, near the middle of the valley, and seems to have been formerly a cliff of Mount Sinai, which hangs in a variety of precipices all over this plain; the water which gushed out, and the stream which flowed withal, Psalms 78:20 have hollowed across one corner of this rock, a channel about two inches deep, and twenty wide, all over incrusted like the inside of a tea kettle that has been long used. Besides several mossy productions that are still preserved by the dew, we see all over this channel a great number of holes, some of them four or five inches deep, and one or two in diameter, the lively and demonstrative tokens of their having been formerly so many fountains. Neither could art nor chance be concerned in the contrivance, inasmuch as every circumstance points out to us a miracle; and, in the same manner with the rent in the rock of Mount Calvary at Jerusalem, never fails to produce the greatest seriousness and devotion in all who see it. The Arabs, who were our guards, were ready to stone me in attempting to break off a corner of it: and another late traveller p informs us, that the stone called the stone of the fountains, or the solitary rock, is about twelve feet high, and about eight or ten feet broad, though it is not all of one equal breadth. It is a granite marble, of a kind of brick colour, composed of red and white spots, which are both dusky in their kind; and it stands by itself in the fore mentioned valley (the valley of Rephidim) as if it had grown out of the earth, on the right hand of the road toward the northeast: there remains on it to this day the lively impression of the miracle then wrought; for there are still to be seen the places where the water gushed out, six openings towards the southwest, and six towards the northeast; and in those places where the water flowed the clefts are still to be seen in the rock, as it were with lips. The account Dr. Pocock q gives of it is this,

"it is on the foot of Mount Seriah, and is a red granite stone, fifteen feet long, ten wide, and about twelve high: on both sides of it toward the south end, and at the top of it for about the breadth of eight inches, it is discoloured as by the running of water; and all down this part, and both sides, and at top, are a sort of openings and mouths, some of which resemble the lion's mouth that is sometimes cut in stone spouts, but appear not to be the work of a tool. There are about twelve on each side, and within everyone is an horizontal crack, and in some also a crack down perpendicularly. There is also a crack from one of the mouths next to the hill, that extends two or three feet to the north, and all round to the south. The Arabs call this the stone of Moses; and other late travellers r say, that about a mile and a half, in the vale of Rephidim, is this rock; this, say they, is a vast stone, of a very compact and hard granite, and as it were projecting out of the ground; on both sides are twelve fissures, which the monk our guide applied to the twelve apostles, and possibly not amiss, had he joined the twelve tribes of Israel with them: as we were observing these fissures, out of which the water gushed, one would be tempted to think, added he, it is no longer ago than yesterday the water flowed out; and indeed there is such an appearance, that at a distance one would think it to be a small waterfall lately dried up: and one s that travelled hither in the beginning of the sixteenth century says, that to this day out of one of the marks or holes there sweats a sort of moisture, which we saw and licked.''

We are taught by the Apostle Paul the mystical and spiritual meaning of this rock, which he says was Christ, that is, a type of him,

1 Corinthians 10:4 as it was for his external unpromising appearance among men at his birth, in his life and death; for his height, being higher than the kings of the earth, than the angels of heaven, and than the heavens themselves, and for strength, firmness, and solidity. The water that flowed from this rock was typical of the grace of Christ, and the blessings of it, which flow from him in great abundance to the refreshment and comfort of his people, and to be had freely; and of the blood of Christ, which flowed from him when stricken and smitten. And the rock being smitten with the rod of Moses, typified Christ being smitten by the rod of the law in the hand of justice, for the transgressions of his people; and how that through his having being made sin, and a curse for them, whereby the law and justice of God are satisfied, the blessings of grace flow freely to them, and follow them all the days of their lives, as the waters of the rock followed the Israelites through the wilderness.

k על הצור "super illam petram", Junius Tremellius "super illa petra", Piscator. l בצור "in petram", Pagninus, Montanus, "in petra seu rupe"; so Jarchi, and the Targums. m Laconic sive, l. 3. p. 209. n Travels into the Levant, par. 1. B. 2. ch. 26. p. 167. o Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 317. Ed. 2. p Journal from Cairo to Mount Sinai, A. D. 1722, 35, 36, 37. Ed. 2. q Travels, p. 148. r Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 2. p. 174, 175. s Baumgarten. Peregrinatio, l. 1. c. 24. p. 62.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The rock in Horeb - (a rock situated, according to Arab tradition, in Wady Feiran. Horeb was a name given to the whole desert of Sinai and subsequently attached to the mountain. Palmer).

It is questioned whether the water thus supplied ceased with the immediate occasion; see 1 Corinthians 10:4, the general meaning of which appears to be that their wants were ever supplied from Him, of whom the rock was but a symbol, and who accompanied them in all their wanderings.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 17:6. I will stand before thee there, upon the rock in Horeb — THE rock, הצור hatstsur. It seems as if God had directed the attention of Moses to a particular rock, with which he was well acquainted; for every part of the mount and its vicinity must have been well known to Moses during the time he kept Jethro's flocks in those quarters. Dr. Priestley has left the following sensible observations upon this miracle: -

"The luminous cloud, the symbol of the Divine presence, would appear on the rock, and Horeb was probably a part of the same mountain with Sinai. This supply of water, on Moses only striking the rock, where no water had been before nor has been since, was a most wonderful display of the Divine power. The water must have been in great abundance to supply two millions of persons, which excluded all possibility of artifice or imposture in the case. The miracle must also have been of some continuance, no doubt so long as they continued in that neighbourhood, which was more than a year. There are sufficient traces of this extraordinary miracle remaining at this day. This rock has been visited, drawn, and described by Dr. Shaw, Dr. Pocock, and others; and holes and channels appear in the stone, which could only have been formed by the bursting out and running of the water. No art of man could have done it, if any motive could be supposed for the undertaking in such a place as this."

This miracle has not escaped the notice of the ancient Greek poets. Callimachus represents Rhea bringing forth water from a rock in the same way, after the birth of Jupiter.

Πληξεν ορος σκηπτρῳ, το δε οἱ δεχα πουλυ διεστη.

Εκ δ' εχεεν μεγα χευμα.

Hymn ad Jov., ver. 31.

_____________ With her sceptre struck

The yawning cliff; from its disparted height

Adown the mount the gushing torrent ran.

PRIOR.

The rock mentioned above has been seen and described by Norden, p. 144, 8vo.; Dr. Shaw, p. 314, 4to., where there is an accurate drawing of it; Dr. Pocock, vol. i., p. 143, &c., where the reader may find some fine plates of Mount Horeb and Sinai, and four different views of the wonderful rock of Meribah. It is a vast block of red granite, fifteen feet long, ten broad, and twelve high. See Dr. Shaw's account at the end of Exodus. My nephew, who visited this rock in 1823, confirms the account of the preceding travellers, and has brought a piece of this wonderful stone. The granite is fine, and the quartz mica, and feldspar equally mixed in it. This rock or block of granite is the only type of Christ now existing.