When they thirsted they called upon thee: In the biblical account of water from the rock (Num 20.2-13), the people do not call to God for help, but complain to Moses, who makes water flow from the rock without calling on God. Our author here is following the tradition in Psa 107.4-6. They may be identified as “your people” (Good News Translation). Called upon thee may be rendered “prayed asking you to help them.”

And water was given them out of flinty rock, and slaking of thirst from hard stone: These two lines have almost the same meaning. The water was given by God, and Good News Translation makes this clear with “you gave them water flowing out of solid rock.” The adjective translated flinty is interpreted by some to mean “high”; compare An American Translation “rocky cliff.” For both lines New English Bible has “and water to slake [ease] their thirst was given them out of the hard stone of a rocky cliff.” However, the Greek of Deut 8.15; Job 28.9; and Psa 114.8 supports the idea that the rock is described as flint. Flint is a particularly hard stone (quartz) that can be struck to produce sparks for starting fires, or that can be shaped by beating and flaking into objects such as arrowheads and spearheads. Some languages will have a common word for this substance, and in such cases translators will want to use it. Good News Translation “solid rock” is idiomatic English—all rock is solid, of course. The phrase simply emphasizes its solidity. Another approach for these two lines might be “and you eased their thirst by giving them water from hard flint [or, stone]” or “… by making water flow from….”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.