What Does Psalm 78:18 Mean in the King James?
And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
What the KJV calls “lust” is their nephesh, the living self, so appetite itself becomes the place where God is put to proof.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks of an inner test: the heart asks for food, yet makes God’s care answer to appetite. “Lust” here names their nephesh, the living self, with appetite among its branches. The request is for food, and its satisfaction becomes the proof they demand from God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A request becomes a test only when it is spoken as a direct challenge; this verse shows that the heart can make it one from within.
THE ROOT
נָסָה
nāsâ
GROWS FROM
נסה
To test, try, or put to proof.
“tempted” in this verse is nāsâ. The verb carries the sense of trying God or putting God to proof. The request for food is part of that test: the heart makes God’s response answer for whether he will provide.
ALSO GROWS
vayənassu: They tested.
וַיְנַסּוּ
This is the verb used in the verse, naming the asking as a test of God.
Massah: Testing.
מַסָּה
The place name recalls a test of God over the people’s demand for water (Exodus 17:7).
nissah: He tested.
נִסָּה
The same root describes God testing Abraham (Genesis 22:1), showing the verb’s sense of putting someone to proof.
נֶפֶשׁ
nephesh
GROWS FROM
נפשׁ
The living self or person, including that person’s appetite.
“lust” in this verse is nephesh. The Hebrew phrase is “for their nephesh”: the appetite belongs to the living self. The verse holds the hunger and the inward test together, their living selves make the provision they seek a proof of God’s care.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: Living soul or person.
נֶפֶשׁ
This established sense keeps the verse’s appetite connected to the whole living person, rather than making it a separate force.
nephesh: Appetite.
נֶפֶשׁ
Proverbs 23:2 uses nephesh in the phrase “a man given to appetite,” showing how this word for the living self can also name its desire for food.
THE PATTERN
When the heart makes God’s care answer to a demand for proof, asking becomes a test.
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.THE THREAD
Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.The Hebrew verb for “tempt” here shares the root נסה with Psalm 78:18: both describe putting the LORD to proof. Deuteronomy’s reference to Massah opens the verse further by connecting the test over food with the earlier demand for water.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us