Psalms 78:13-23

13 He brake the sea, and led them through it; and he ordained the waters as in a bouget, (or a bottle). (He broke the sea apart, and led them through it; he made the waters to stand up like walls.)

14 And he led them forth in a cloud of the day; and all night in the lightening of fire. (And he led them forth by a cloud during the day; and all night long by the light of a fire.)

15 He brake a stone in desert; and he gave water to them as in a much depth. (He broke open a rock in the wilderness; and he gave water to them as if out of the great depths of the ocean.)

16 And he led water out of the stone; and he led forth waters as floods. (Yea, he brought forth water out of that rock; and it came forth like a river.)

17 And they putted yet to do sin against him; they excited the high God into ire, in a place without water. (And still they sinned against him; they incited the Most High God to anger, in a place without water.)

18 And they tempted God in their hearts; that they asked meats to their lives. (And they tempted God in their hearts; by demanding food for their hunger.)

19 And they spake evil of God; they said, Whether God may make ready a board in desert? (And they spoke evil against God; they said, Can God truly prepare a table for us here in the wilderness?)

20 For he smote a stone, and waters flowed; and streams went out in abundance. Whether also he may give bread; either make ready a board to his people? (For he struck a stone, and waters flowed; yea, streams went out in abundance. But can he also give bread, or food, to us? can he also prepare a table here in the wilderness for his people?)

21 Therefore the Lord heard, and delayed; and fire was kindled in Jacob, and the ire of God ascended on Israel. (And so the Lord heard them, and was angry; and fire was kindled against the people of Jacob, yea, God's anger descended upon the people of Israel.)

22 For they believed not in God; neither hoped in his health. (For they did not believe in God; nor trusted in his salvation, or his deliverance.)

23 And he commanded to the clouds above; and he opened the gates of heaven. (But then he commanded to the clouds above; and he opened the gates of the heavens.)

Psalms 78:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

Maschil of Asaph. Or for "Asaph" {f}; a doctrinal and "instructive" psalm, as the word "Maschil" signifies; see Psalm 32:1, which was delivered to Asaph to be sung; the Targum is, "the understanding of the Holy Spirit by the hands of Asaph." Some think David was the penman of it; but from the latter part of it, in which mention is made of him, and of his government of the people of Israel, it looks as if it was wrote by another, and after his death, though not long after, since the account is carried on no further than his times; and therefore it is probable enough it was written by Asaph, the chief singer, that lived in that age: whoever was the penman of it, it is certain he was a prophet, and so was Asaph, who is called a seer, the same with a prophet, and who is said to prophesy, 2 Chronicles 29:30 and also that he represented Christ; for that the Messiah is the person that is introduced speaking in this psalm is clear from Matthew 13:34 and the whole may be considered as a discourse of his to the Jews of his time; giving them an history of the Israelites from their first coming out of Egypt to the times of David, and in it an account of the various benefits bestowed upon them, of their great ingratitude, and of the divine resentment; the design of which is to admonish and caution them against committing the like sins, lest they should be rejected of God, as their fathers were, and perish: some Jewish writers, as Arama observes, interpret this psalm of the children of Ephraim going out of Egypt before the time appointed.