Passage Research
Psalm 78 — Sermon Preparation
A lengthy Asaph psalm retelling Israel's history from the Exodus through wilderness rebellion to God's choice of David as shepherd-king. Below is a research summary for Psalm 78, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 72
- verses
- 530 / 304
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 11
- classic sermon excerpts
- 4
- preachers & commentators
Psalm 78 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵל | ʼêl | H410 | 7 | strength, mighty |
| מָרָה | mârâh | H4784 | 4 | be, make |
| אָמַן | ʼâman | H539 | 4 | build up, support |
| דּוֹר | dôwr | H1755 | 4 | revolution, age |
| אָכַל | ʼâkal | H398 | 5 | eat |
| אַף | ʼaph | H639 | 4 | nose, nostril |
| מִדְבָּר | midbâr | H4057 | 4 | pasture, desert |
How preachers through history handled this text
11 public-domain excerpts on Psalm 78, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“Sin dispirits men, and takes away the heart. Forgetfulness of God's works is the cause of disobedience to his laws. This narrative relates a struggle between God's goodness and man's badness. The Lord hears all our murmurings and distrusts, and is much displeased. Those that will not believe the power of God's mercy, shall feel the fire of his indignation. Those cannot be said to trust in God's salvation as their happiness at last, who can not trust his providence in the way to it. …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on Psalm 78:9–39 (Public Domain)
Places in the text
Based on ancient-geography data
- Egypt— Ps 78:12
- Zoan— Ps 78:12
- Ham 2— Ps 78:51
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