The Meaning of Psalms 78:40 Explained

Psalms 78:40

KJV: How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

YLT: How often do they provoke Him in the wilderness, Grieve Him in the desolate place?

Darby: How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

ASV: How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert!

KJV Reverse Interlinear

How  oft did they provoke  him in the wilderness,  [and] grieve  him in the desert! 

What does Psalms 78:40 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalm 78:38-48 - "signs In Egypt"
God takes into account the frailty and infirmity of our natures. The Spirit"¦ helpeth our infirmities, Romans 8:26. In the words of Hosea, God teaches us "to go;" that is, He puts His hands under our armpits, that we may learn how to walk. In the process there are many failures, but He distinguishes between the willful breach of His commands, and the blunders that are due to the frailty of our natures. Being full of compassion, He forgives; He remembers that we are but flesh.
Let us not limit the Holy One, Psalms 78:41. He waits to do marvelous things for us and by us; but how often we confine His power within the narrow channel of our own little faith. We do not like to trouble Him too often. We say in effect that as He has done this, we can hardly expect Him to do the other. We bring a limited number of vessels to be filled with the sacred oil. We strike but three times on the ground, and not until the seventh time of perfection. He cannot do many mighty things for us because our unbelief. Let us quicken our souls to larger thoughts of God, by recounting, as in this paragraph, His wonders of old. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalm 78

1  An exhortation both to learn and to preach, the law of God
9  The story of God's wrath against the incredulous and disobedient
67  The Israelites being rejected, God chose Judah, Zion, and David

What do the individual words in Psalms 78:40 mean?

How often they provoked Him in the wilderness [And] grieved Him in the desert
כַּ֭מָּה יַמְר֣וּהוּ בַמִּדְבָּ֑ר יַ֝עֲצִיב֗וּהוּ ! בִּֽישִׁימֽוֹן

כַּ֭מָּה  How  often 
Parse: Interrogative
Root: לָמָּה 
Sense: what, how, of what kind.
יַמְר֣וּהוּ  they  provoked  Him 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine plural, third person masculine singular
Root: מָרָה  
Sense: to be contentious, be rebellious, be refractory, be disobedient towards, be rebellious against.
בַמִּדְבָּ֑ר  in  the  wilderness 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִדְבָּר 
Sense: wilderness.
יַ֝עֲצִיב֗וּהוּ  [And]  grieved  Him 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine plural, third person masculine singular
Root: עָצַב 
Sense: to hurt, pain, grieve, displease, vex, wrest.
! בִּֽישִׁימֽוֹן  in  the  desert 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular
Root: יְשִׁימֹון  
Sense: waste, wilderness, desert, desolate place.