In spite of all this they still sinned; they did not believe in his wonders. So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. When he killed them, they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast towards him; they were not true to his covenant. Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; often he restrained his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not come again. (Psalm 78:32-39)

According to the psalmist the punishment of those who continued to sin and not believe was to be killed. Harag is the Hebrew verb. God killed them. Yet they - presumably the survivors - were redeemed.

This is almost certainly how most speakers of Hebrew would have heard or read the passage. Harag most commonly means to kill, destroy, murder, slaughter. Given the typical use of harag, this is probably the intent of the psalmist.

But the word can also mean - less commonly - to be "out of hand." Without undue violence to the text, we might render the Hebrew as, "Since they were out of hand, they sought for him." For me this use of harag is more consistent with the redeeming, compassionate, and restrained God then described.

Jesus said the Kingdom of God is at hand. But we can choose to be out of hand.