¶How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert!
Parallel translations
- WEB How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
- KJV How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
- BSB How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!
- NKJV How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert!
- NLT Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Asaph laments how often Israel rebelled and grieved God in the wilderness. Their repeated rebellion deeply pained Him.
Overview
The exclamation 'How often!' underscores the frequency of Israel's rebellion that 'grieved him in the desert.' Remarkably, Scripture speaks of God being grieved by sin, showing it is no mere abstraction to Him. Paul similarly warns believers not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Eph 4:30Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- Ps 95:8–10Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
- Isa 63:10But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.
- Heb 3:15–17while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”
- Num 14:11Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
- Ps 106:14–33but gave in to craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland.
- Ps 107:11because they rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the Most High.
- Deut 9:21–22I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain.
- Ps 78:17Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert.
- Isa 7:13He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 78:40 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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