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Psalm 78:33
Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.
31when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of their strongest, and struck down the young men of Israel.
32For all this they still sinned, and didn’t believe in his wondrous works.
33Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.
34When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.
35They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer.
Notice
“Therefore” ties these wasted days and terrified years to Israel’s persistent unbelief, making the passage a stark account of God’s judgment on his people.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
How does “Therefore” shape your reading of the terror described here?
Write on thisWhat troubles you about God consuming years in response to Israel’s unbelief?
Write on thisWhat do Israel’s wasted days make you want to bring before God today?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 90:9For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.Both describe days and years passing under God’s wrath, with terror in Psalm 78 and a sigh in Psalm 90.
Numbers 14:35I, the LORD, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, …Both describe God consuming the lives of people who opposed him; Numbers names the wilderness as the place of their death.
Psalm 31:10For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.Both connect sin with years marked by suffering, though Psalm 31 speaks through one person’s sorrow.
Numbers 14:29Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have …Both describe God’s judgment on Israel, with Numbers naming those who complained and would die in the wilderness.
Numbers 26:64–65But among these there was not a man of them who were counted by Moses and Aaron the priest, who counted the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.Psalm 78 describes days consumed under judgment; Numbers records the absence of the men counted in an earlier census.
Leviticus 26:16I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will …Both name terror and wasted effort or time as consequences of God’s judgment on his people.
Deuteronomy 2:14–16The days in which we came from Kadesh Barnea until we had come over the brook Zered were thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war were …Both describe years passing as God consumes lives; Deuteronomy specifies thirty-eight years until the generation of fighting men was gone.
Ecclesiastes 12:13–14This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.Both concern human life before God; Ecclesiastes commands fear and obedience, while the psalm records his judgment.
Numbers 32:13The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation who had done evil in the …Both recount God consuming Israel’s years because of sin, with Numbers specifying forty years of wandering under his anger.
Deuteronomy 2:15Moreover the LORD’s hand was against them, to destroy them from the middle of the camp, until they were consumed.Both identify God as the one who consumed their lives; Deuteronomy describes his hand against them until they were gone.
Job 7:16I loathe my life. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.Both speak of days passing without hope of lasting life; Job voices personal distress without naming judgment in this verse.
Job 5:6–7For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;Both address affliction and its cause, though Job’s supplied line does not identify God’s judgment as the cause.
Where this verse fits
Sermon or Bible study notes. guilt and confession. doubt.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
A frightening year in your life is no proof that this judgment describes you. Here, God’s judgment answers Israel’s stated persistence in sin despite his wondrous works.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).