Bible Strands
Psalms 78:38
And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the Israelite assembly, recounting the wilderness generation’s covenant betrayal while contrasting it with God’s sustained forbearance.
The words — The Hebrew raḥûm (compassionate) and heḥerîb (he increased to turn back) anchor the verse’s declaration of divine restraint over judgment.
The thread — This pattern of withheld wrath and repeated forgiveness recurs in Numbers 14:18, Isaiah 48:9, and Ezekiel 20:17.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine patience operates independently of human merit, requiring the reader to align their assessment of God’s character with His recorded actions rather than their own performance.
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
But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
Cross-references
- Numbers 14:18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’
- Isaiah 48:9 For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I will restrain it, so that you will not be cut off.
- Ezekiel 20:17 Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or bring them to an end in the wilderness.
- Exodus 34:6 Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,
- 2 Kings 21:20 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done.
- Isaiah 44:21 Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I have made you, and you are My servant; O Israel, I will never forget you.
- Ezekiel 20:13 Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
- Ezekiel 20:21 But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or carefully observe My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they profaned My Sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the wilderness.
- Numbers 16:44 and the LORD said to Moses,
- Psalms 106:43 Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity.