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The NET Bible®

Isaiah 48:21

They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions; he makes water flow out of a rock for them; he splits open a rock and water flows out.'

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blessing;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Exodus;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Desert;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Isaiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Election;   Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Wilderness, Desert;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Desert;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Flint;   Love;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for April 16;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They did not thirstwhen he led them through the deserts;he made water flow from the rock for them;he split the rock, and water gushed out.
Hebrew Names Version
They didn't thirst when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
King James Version
And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
English Standard Version
They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out.
New American Standard Bible
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed out.
New Century Version
They did not become thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water flow from a rock for them. He split the rock, and water flowed out.
Amplified Bible
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. He made the waters flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the waters flowed.
World English Bible
They didn't thirst when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And they were not thirstie: hee led them through the wildernesse: hee caused the waters to flowe out of the rocke for them: for he claue the rocke, and the water gushed out.
Legacy Standard Bible
And they did not thirst when He led them through the waste places.He made the water flow out of the rock for them;He split the rock, and the water gushed forth.
Berean Standard Bible
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.
Contemporary English Version
He led us through the desert and made water flow from a rock to satisfy our thirst.
Complete Jewish Bible
They weren't thirsty when he led them through the deserts, he made water flow from the rock for them — he split the rock, and out gushed the water.
Darby Translation
And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; yea, he clave the rock, and the waters gushed out.
Easy-to-Read Version
They never got thirsty as he led them through the desert, because he made water flow from a rock. He split the rock, and water flowed out.
George Lamsa Translation
They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he bored through the rock, and the waters gushed out.
Good News Translation
When the Lord led his people through a hot, dry desert, they did not suffer from thirst. He made water come from a rock for them; he split the rock open, and water flowed out.
Lexham English Bible
And when he led them through the deserts, they were not thirsty; he made water flow from the rock for them, and he split the rock, and the water gushed out.
Literal Translation
And they did not thirst; He led them in the deserts; He made waters flow out of rock for them. And He cut open the rock and the water gushed out.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
that they suffred no thurste, whe they trauayled in the wildernesse. He claue the rockes a sonder, and the water gusshed out.
American Standard Version
And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
Bible in Basic English
They had no need of water when he was guiding them through the waste lands: he made water come out of the rock for them: the rock was parted and the waters came flowing out.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He cleaved the rock also, and the waters gushed out.'
King James Version (1611)
And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rocke for them: he claue the rocke also, and the waters gushed out.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
They suffred no thirst, he led them through the wildernesse, and caused the waters to flowe out vnto them from out of the rocke: he claue the rocke a sunder, and the water gusshed out.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And if they shall thirst, he shall lead them through the desert; he shall bring forth water to them out of the rock: the rock shall be cloven, and the water shall flow forth, and my people shall drink.
English Revised Version
And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thei thirstiden not in desert, whanne he ladde hem out; he brouyte forth to hem watir of a stoon, and he departide the stoon, and watris flowiden.
Update Bible Version
And they didn't thirst when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
Webster's Bible Translation
And they thirsted not, [when] he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he cleaved the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
New King James Version
And they did not thirst When He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.
New Living Translation
They were not thirsty when he led them through the desert. He divided the rock, and water gushed out for them to drink.
New Life Bible
They were not thirsty when He led them through the deserts. He made water flow out of the rock for them. He broke the rock, and the water flowed out.
New Revised Standard
They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split open the rock and the water gushed out.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And they thirsted not, when, through dry places, he led them, Waters out of the rock, caused hero flow out to them, - Yea be cleft a rock and, there gushed out waters:
Douay-Rheims Bible
They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out.
Revised Standard Version
They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he cleft the rock and the water gushed out.
Young's Literal Translation
And they have not thirsted in waste places, He hath caused them to go on, Waters from a rock he hath caused to flow to them, Yea, he cleaveth a rock, and flow do waters.
THE MESSAGE
They weren't thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water pour out of the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed forth.

Contextual Overview

16 Approach me! Listen to this! From the very first I have not spoken in secret; when it happens, I am there." So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. 17 This is what the Lord , your protector, says, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go. 18 If only you had obeyed my commandments, prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea. 19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, and your children like its granules. Their name would not have been cut off and eliminated from my presence. 20 Leave Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Announce it with a shout of joy! Make this known! Proclaim it throughout the earth! Say, ‘The Lord protects his servant Jacob. 21 They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions; he makes water flow out of a rock for them; he splits open a rock and water flows out.' 22 There will be no prosperity for the wicked," says the Lord .

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they thirsted: Isaiah 30:25, Isaiah 35:6, Isaiah 35:7, Isaiah 41:17, Isaiah 41:18, Isaiah 43:19, Isaiah 43:20, Isaiah 49:10, Jeremiah 31:9

he caused: Exodus 17:6, Numbers 20:11, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalms 78:15, Psalms 78:20, Psalms 105:41

Reciprocal: Numbers 20:8 - bring forth Deuteronomy 32:13 - honey 2 Kings 3:17 - Ye shall not Nehemiah 9:20 - gavest Psalms 36:8 - and thou Psalms 74:15 - cleave Proverbs 5:16 - thy Isaiah 11:16 - like as it was Isaiah 44:3 - floods 1 Corinthians 10:4 - did

Cross-References

Genesis 12:5
And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
Genesis 15:14
But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.
Genesis 26:3
Stay in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made to your father Abraham.
Genesis 28:15
I am with you! I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!"
Genesis 37:1
But Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, in the land of Canaan.
Genesis 46:4
I will go down with you to Egypt and I myself will certainly bring you back from there. Joseph will close your eyes."
Genesis 48:1
After these things Joseph was told, "Your father is weakening." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.
Genesis 48:2
When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has just come to you," Israel regained strength and sat up on his bed.
Genesis 48:3
Jacob said to Joseph, "The sovereign God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.
Genesis 48:4
He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and will multiply you. I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants as an everlasting possession.'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts,.... As when he led the people of Israel through the wilderness to Canaan's land, though they sometimes thirsted for want of water, yet they were supplied with it, by which their thirst was extinguished, to which the reference here is. So when they came out of Babylon, and passed through the waste and desert places which lay between that and Judea, they were supplied with all necessaries. Thus the apostles of Christ, when they travelled through the Gentile world, comparable to a desert, publishing redemption and salvation by Christ, had every needful supply, both of temporal and spiritual things; they lacked not any thing. In like manner the people of God, while they pass through the wilderness of this world to the heavenly glory, are furnished and refreshed with living water out of the fountain and fulness of grace in Christ, of which if a man drink, he shall thirst no more, John 4:14

Isaiah 49:10: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for thee; that is, for the Israelites in the wilderness, when they were come out of Egypt, and wanted water, Exodus 17:6:

he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out; Psalms 78:15, the rock was a type of Christ, from whom the living waters of grace flow, to the support, supply, comfort, and refreshment of the saints in this world, 1 Corinthians 10:4. Grace is often signified by waters, because purifying and cleansing, reviving and refreshing, softening and fructifying, and an extinguisher of thirst: their gushing out denotes the abundance of it, which is received from Christ, not only at first conversion, in the regeneration and quickening of men; in the pardon of their sins, and the justification of their persons; but in the large communications of grace, after made, for the supply of their wants: and all which come from Christ the Rock, that is higher than they, from whence their bread is given them, and their waters are sure unto them; and who is the Rock of their refuge and salvation: and the cleaving of this Rock may signify his sufferings and death; his being smitten, bruised, and broken for his people, that they may partake of his grace, and the blessings of it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they thirsted not - This is a part of that for which they would be called to celebrate his name. It was not merely that he had redeemed them, but that he had abundantly provided for their needs in the desert, and guided them safe through the pathless wilderness to their own land (see the notes at Isaiah 35:6-7; Isaiah 41:17-18).

He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them - The allusion here is undoubtedly to the fact that God caused the waters to flow out of the rock that Moses smote in the wilderness Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11. This is not to be regarded as literally true that God would, in like manner, smite the rocks and cause waters to flow by miracle on their return from Babylon. There is no record that any such event took place, and it is not necessary so to understand this passage. It is a part of the triumphant song which they are represented as singing after their return to their own land. In that song, they celebrate his gracious interposition in language that was familiar to them, and by illustrations that were well known. They therefore speak of his mercy to them as if he had smitten the rock in the desert on their return, and caused the waters to flow; and the sense is, that his mercy to them then was similar to his goodness to their fathers when he led them to the land of promise. He met all their necessities; and his gracious interposition was experienced all the way as really as though he had smitten the rock, or caused cool and refreshing fountains to break out in the desert.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 48:21. They thirsted not - through the desertsKimchi has a surprising observation upon this place: "If the prophecy,' says he, "relates to the return from the Babylonish captivity, as it seems to do, it is to be wondered how it comes to pass, that in the Book of Ezra, in which he gives an account of their return, no mention is made that such miracles were wrought for them; as, for instance, that God clave the rock for them in the desert." It is really much to be wondered, that one of the most learned and judicious of the Jewish expositors of the Old Testament, having advanced so far in a large Comment on Isaiah, should appear to be totally ignorant of the prophet's manner of writing; of the parabolic style, which prevails in the writings of all the prophets, and more particularly in the prophecy of Isaiah, which abounds throughout in parabolical images from the beginning to the end; from "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth," to "the worm and the fire" in the last verse. And how came he to keep his wonderment to himself so long? Why did he not expect that the historian should have related how, as they passed through the desert, cedars, pines, and olive-trees shot up at once on the side of the way to shade them; and that instead of briers and brambles the acacia and the myrtle sprung up under their feet, according to God's promises, Isaiah 41:19; Isaiah 55:13? These and a multitude of the like parabolical or poetical images, were never intended to be understood literally. All that the prophet designed in this place, and which he has executed in the most elegant manner, was an amplification and illustration of the gracious care and protection of God vouchsafed to his people in their return from Babylon, by an allusion to the miraculous exodus from Egypt. See De S. Poesi, Hebr. Prael. ix.


 
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