Psalms 77:20
Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?
Open Psalms 77:20 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- quoniam percussit petram, et fluxerunt aquæ, et torrentes inundaverunt. Numquid et panem poterit dare, aut parare mensam populo suo ?
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐπεὶ ἐπάταξεν πέτραν, καὶ ἐρρύησαν ὕδατα, καὶ χείμαρροι κατεκλύσθησαν· μὴ καὶ ἄρτον δυνήσεται δοῦναι; ἢ ἑτοιμάσαι τράπεζαν τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ;
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 78:20
- הֵ֤ן הִכָּה צ֨וּר וַיָּז֣וּבוּ מַיִם֮ וּנְחָלִ֪ים יִ֫שְׁטֹ֥פוּ הֲגַם לֶ֭חֶם י֣וּכַל תֵּ֑ת אִם יָכִ֖ין שְׁאֵ֣ר לְעַמּֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Bread. Including all sorts of food. (Worthington)
Table. Hebrew, "flesh." It is true we have water and manna, but we want something more solid and agreeable. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXXVIII
13. “And they tempted God in their hearts, in order that they might seek morsels for their souls” ( ver. 18 ). It is one thing to ask in believing, another thing in tempting. Lastly there followeth, “And they slandered God, and said, Shall God be able to prepare a table in the desert?” ( ver. 19 ). “For He smote the rock, and the waters flowed, and torrents gushed forth: will He be able to give bread also, or to prepare a table for His people?” ( ver. 20 ). Not believing therefore, they sought morsels for their souls. Not so the Apostle James doth enjoin a morsel to be asked for the mind, but doth admonish that it be sought by believers, not by such as tempt and slander God. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew XIV. 13
And that which in the wilderness seemed to the Jews marvellous, (they said at least, “Can He give bread also? or prepare a table in the wilderness?”) this He shows forth in His works. With this view also He leads them into the wilderness, that the miracle might be very far beyond suspicion, and that no one might think that any village lying near contributed ought to the meal. For this reason He mentions the hour also, not the place only.
St Ephrem the Syrian Ephraim Syrus: Three Homilies, On Our Lord
41. Our Lord then saw that Simon the Pharisee did not believe the signs and wonders which he had seen. He came to him to persuade him with humble words; and humble utterances overcame him, whom mighty wonders had not overcome. What then are the wonders which that Pharisee had seen? He had seen the dead raised to life, the lepers cleansed, the blind with eyes opened. These signs compelled that Pharisee to entertain our Lord as a prophet. But he who entertained Him as a prophet, changed so as to despise Him for one who had not knowledge, saying (namely); Had this man been a prophet, He would have known that this woman, who had approached Him, is a sinner . But we may despise the Pharisee and say, Had he been a man of discernment, he would have learned from that sinful woman, who approached our Lord, not that He was a prophet, but the Lord of the Prophets. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).