Psalms 78:17
in Psalms 78But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yet went they on still to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
KJV
And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 78
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
they continued to sin against Him
on Psalms 78:17-22
They tested God willfully, demanding the food they craved, and asked whether He could prepare a table in the wilderness. Verse 20 puts the question after the rock had already given water and torrents. The wrath that answered was a fire kindled against Jacob.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
And yet, "they," like a generation crooked and embittering, "added yet to sin against Him:" that is, not to believe. For this is the sin, whereof the Spirit doth convict the world, as the Lord saith, "Of sin indeed because they have not believed on Me." "And they exasperated the Most High in drought," which other copies have, "in a place without water," which is a more exact translation from the Greek, and doth signify no other thing than drought. Was it in that drought of the desert, or rather in their own? For although they had drank of the rock, they had not their bellies but their minds dry, freshening with no fruitfulness of righteousness. In that drought they ought the more faithfully to have been suppliant unto God, in order that He who had given fulness unto their jaws, might give also equity to their manners. For unto him the faithful soul doth cry, "Let mine eyes see equity."
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Wilderness - Where they had such singular obligations to obedience. This was a great aggravation of their sins.
And they sinned yet more against him,....
As sin sometimes takes occasion by the commandment, so at other times it takes occasion by the deliverance, to become more exceedingly sinful. They provoked the Most High.
It is presumption for us to limit the Holy One of Israel; for, being the Holy One, he will do what is most for his own glory; and, being the Holy One of Israel, he will do what is most for their good; and we both impeach his wisdom and betray our own pride and folly if we go about to prescribe to him.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
And they sinned yet more against him. Outdoing their former sins, going into greater deeps of evil: the more they had the more loudly they clamoured for more, and murmured because they had not every luxury that pampered appetites could desire. It was bad enough to mistrust their God for necessaries, but to revolt against him in a greedy rage for superfluities was far worse. Ever is it the nature of the disease of sin to proceed from bad to worse; men never weary of sinning, but rather increase their speed in the race of iniquity. In the case before us the goodness of God was abused into a reason for greater sin. Had not the Lord been so good they would not have been so bad. If he had wrought fewer miracles before, they would not have been so inexcusable in their unbelief, so wanton in their idolatry. By provoking the most High in the wilderness. Although they were in a position of obvious dependence upon God for everything, being in a desert where the soil could yield them no support, yet they were graceless enough to provoke their benefactor. At one time they provoked his jealousy by their hankering after false gods, anon they excited his wrath by their challenges of his power, their slanders against his love, their rebellions against his will. He was all bounty of love, and they all superfluity of naughtiness. They were favoured above all nations, and yet none were more ill favoured. For them the heavens dropped manna, and they returned murmurs; the rocks gave them rivers, and they replied with floods of wickedness. Herein, as in a mirror, we see ourselves. Israel in the wilderness acted out, as in a drama, all the story of man's conduct towards his God.
And they sinned yet more against him. Outdoing their former sins, going into greater deeps of evil: the more they had the more loudly they clamoured for more, and murmured because they had not every luxury that pampered appetites could desire. It was bad enough to mistrust their God for necessaries, but to revolt against him in a greedy rage for superfluities was far worse. Ever is it the nature of the disease of sin to proceed from bad to worse; men never weary of sinning, but rather increase their speed in the race of iniquity.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And they sinned yet more against him - literally, “They added to sin against him.” The idea is, that his mercies, and the proofs of his presence were only made the occasion of greater sin on their part. This may have been in two ways; (1) their sin was thus more aggravated, as being committed against greater light; and (2) they evinced more and more their depravity, in proportion as he bestowed mercies on them - not an uncommon thing with people. By provoking the Most High - literally, “embittering.” They rebelled against him. They refused to submit to him. They forgot his mercies. Compare Deu 9:22. In the wilderness - literally, “in the dry place;” in the desert. In the very place where they were most manifestly dependent on him - where there were no natural streams of water - where their needs were met by a miraculous supply - even there did they provoke him, and rebel against him. If he had simply stopped that miraculous supply of water they must have perished. But sinners forget how dependent they are on God, when they sin against him. On what can they rely, if he withdraws from them, and leaves them to themselves?
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיּוֹסִ֣יפוּ | vaiyosifu | and they repeated | H3254 → | 212 times |
| ע֭וֹד | od | again | H5750 → | 490 times |
| לַחֲטֹא־ | lachato'- | to sin | H2398 → | 238 times |
| ל֑וֹ | lo | to him | ||
| לַֽמְר֥וֹת | lamrot | by rebelling against | H4784 → | 45 times |
| עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן | elyon | [the] Most High | H5945 → | 53 times |
| בַּצִּיָּֽה׃ | batziyah | in the dry region | H6723 → | 16 times |
וַיּוֹסִ֣יפוּand they repeated
vaiyosifuH3254 →212 times
ע֭וֹדagain
odH5750 →490 times
לַחֲטֹא־to sin
lachato'-H2398 →238 times
ל֑וֹto him
lo
לַֽמְר֥וֹתby rebelling against
lamrotH4784 →45 times
עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן[the] Most High
elyonH5945 →53 times
בַּצִּיָּֽה׃in the dry region
batziyahH6723 →16 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 63:10But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.
it leads to
- Acts 7:51
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- Psalms 78:56
But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.
- Psalms 78:40
How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!
- Jeremiah 21:5
And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, fury, and great wrath.
- Acts 7:51
Through
Deuteronomy 9:8At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you.
it leads to
- Psalms 106:19–22
At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.
- Exodus 32:7–10
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
- Exodus 32:16
The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
- Psalms 106:19–22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies13
On this verse
On this chapter
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 78; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.