What Does Psalm 78:17 Mean?
And they added still more to their missing the mark against him, resisting the Most High in the wilderness.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.THE KEY
The Hebrew says they added to their missing by rebelling, the resistance deepens through repetition.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now to the way need and provision do not by themselves end resistance to the Most High. “Yet more” marks repeated missing that deepens into rebellion, even in the wilderness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that receiving provision automatically turns a person toward the giver; provision and resistance can coexist.
THE ROOT
לַמְרוֹת
lamrot
GROWS FROM
מרה
m-r-h
To rebel, resist, or act contrary.
“resisting” in this verse is lamrot. The root names rebellion, while “provoking” carries the effect that rebellion has on the relationship. The verse describes active resistance to the Most High, not merely a passing flare of irritation.
ALSO GROWS
mamrim: Rebellious
מַמְרִים
This form uses the same root to name a rebellious stance, echoing the resistance in this verse.
meri: Rebellion
מְרִי
The noun makes explicit the posture carried by the verb translated “provoking.”
וַיּוֹסִיפוּ
wayyosifu
GROWS FROM
יסף
y-s-f
To add, increase, or do again.
“added still more” in this verse is wayyosifu. The Hebrew expresses more than degree: they “added” again to their missing. Repetition becomes part of the action, so the verse depicts a growing rupture rather than a lone lapse.
ALSO GROWS
Yosef: He adds; may he add
יוֹסֵף
The name carries the same seed of adding, making visible the root beneath “yet more.”
musaf: Added; additional
מוּסָף
This word for something added shares the root and reinforces the sense of accumulation in the verse.
לַחֲטֹא
lachato
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
To miss or fail to reach what is intended.
“their missing the mark” in this verse is lachato. The root lets “sinned” carry the added sense of missing the mark. Joined to “added,” it shows repeated missing accumulating into resistance.
ALSO GROWS
ḥattat: Missing or offense; also an offering for the missing
חַטָּאת
The branch keeps the idea of missing visible even where English uses the familiar language of sin.
maḥti: One who causes another to miss
מַחְטִיא
This causative branch shows how missing can be multiplied or extended beyond a single act.
THE PATTERN
Provision or revelation can reach a person while resistance still recurs and compounds.
Our fathers in Egypt did not perceive your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of your faithful love, but grew bitter at the Sea of Reeds.Remember, do not forget, how you provoked the LORD your God to anger in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been bitter against the LORD.For some, having heard, grew bitter, but not all who came out of Egypt through Moses.THE THREAD
How often they strained against him in the wilderness, and made him ache in the barren place!The verb translated “provoke” comes from the same root, מרה (marah, rebel), as in verse 17. This echo extends “yet more” into a recurring pattern of resistance in the wilderness.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us