Bible Strands
Psalms 78:34
When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist recounts Israel’s wilderness cycles of rebellion and divine judgment, addressing the community to document how the people repeatedly turned to God only after experiencing His punitive strikes.
The words — The Hebrew וְשָׁבוּ (ve.sha.vu) translates literally as “and they returned,” while וְשִׁחֲרוּ (ve.shi.cha.ru) means “and they sought earnestly,” capturing the immediate, crisis-driven posture of the Israelites after being slain.
The thread — This reactive turning appears in Numbers 21:7 when the people admit guilt following their speech against the LORD, and in Hosea 5:15 where God withdraws until they seek His face in affliction.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to distinguish between seeking God as a last resort for deliverance and maintaining consistent allegiance, asking whether their current pursuit of the divine responds to His character or merely to their own distress.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.
Cross-references
- Hosea 5:15 Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
- Numbers 21:7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.
- Judges 3:12 Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
- Judges 3:8 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.
- Judges 4:3 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
- Judges 10:7 So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites,
- Isaiah 26:6 Feet trample it down—the feet of the oppressed, the steps of the poor.
- Jeremiah 22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”
- Hosea 7:14 They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.