Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 78:50

"He made a path for his anger; He spared not their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence," — Psalms 78:50 (ASV)

He made a way to his anger - Margin, he weighed a path. He leveled a path for it; he took away all hindrance to it; he allowed it to have free scope. The idea of weighing is not in the original. The allusion is to a preparation made by which one can march along freely, and without any obstruction. See the notes at Isaiah 40:3-4.

He spared not their soul from death - He did not spare their lives. That is, he gave them over to death.

But gave their life over to the pestilence - Margin, their beasts to the murrain. The original admits of either interpretation, but the connection seems rather to demand the interpretation which is in the text. Both these things, however, occurred.