If someone you love was killed this week, in KwaMakhutha or in another shooting, one verse to read tonight is Psalm 34:18. It names God as near to a broken heart now, in the present tense.
On September 23, the South African Police Service said eleven people were killed and three injured on the night of Tuesday, September 22, in the Ziko area of KwaMakhutha, south of Durban, that it had launched a manhunt, and that the motive could not yet be confirmed; EWN gave the same figures. The South African Government conveyed its "deepest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of the deceased," said law-enforcement agencies were "pursuing every available lead," and asked the public not to take the law into their own hands. The investigation was continuing.
Update, September 29, 2026
Two further shootings were reported in South Africa over the weekend of September 26 and 27. On September 27, the South African Police Service said 10 people died and 11 were injured in Lwandle, Cape Town. On September 29, the South African Government said 18 people had died and 18 were injured, five of them critically, at a tavern in Wedela township near Carletonville, in Gauteng. These are the figures as reported on those days, and the investigations were continuing.
The Government said on September 29 that four of the 18 people who died in Wedela had been identified, and asked people to check on relatives living in the area and to report missing persons to the police. The Police Service said the names of those who died in Lwandle would be released once their next of kin had been told. If you are waiting to hear about someone, SADAG is on 0800 567 567 (Suicide Crisis Helpline) and 0800 20 50 26 (Police and Trauma Helpline), and LifeLine South Africa is on 0861 322 322.
Where to turn tonight
- South Africa: SADAG, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group, lists a Suicide Crisis Helpline on 0800 567 567 and a Trauma Line on 0800 20 50 26. LifeLine South Africa lists 0861 322 322. No line for the KwaMakhutha families had been announced by September 23, so these national lines are the place to start, and a local minister or ward councilor may know of more.
- United States: SAMHSA's Disaster Distress Helpline, call or text 1-800-985-5990, which SAMHSA says is for people who have lived through natural or human-caused disasters, including crime.
- England, Wales and Northern Ireland: Cruse Bereavement Support, whose traumatic-bereavement booklet offers "Telephone helpline and email support," "Individual support ... for adults and children," and "Online facilitated support groups."
- Scotland: the Scottish Government's page for bereaved families lists Victim Support Scotland, which helps people bereaved by murder, and Petal, for families and friends of murder victims.
If you only have a minute
Read tonight
Psalm 34:18, once, aloud if you can.
Say with it
The name of the person you lost, or the families in KwaMakhutha.
Psalm 34:18, for the first nights
Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
In the King James wording:
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm 34 is a song of praise formed in hardship, holding suffering and God's attentive presence together. The verse before says Yahweh "hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles," and the verse after says "Yahweh delivers him out of them all." Between them, verse 18 names where God is now: near, to people whose hearts are broken and whose spirit is crushed, without explaining the loss or hurrying it. Matthew Henry, an English Nonconformist in the Reformed tradition, reads it as God near "to hear and succour them."
Read Psalm 34:18 aloud once, with the name of the person you lost, or for the families in KwaMakhutha. Then hold the question the site keeps beside it: "What would it mean to let nearness, rather than explanation, be enough today?" Bible verses for sudden death reads the same verse for the first hours after news arrives.
What grief after a killing can be like
The American Psychological Association (2019) lists reactions after a shooting as "shock, sorrow, numbness, fear, anger, disillusionment, grief, and others," with trouble sleeping, concentrating, eating or remembering routine tasks. Lundorff and colleagues (2020), pooling 25 studies of adults bereaved by unnatural losses, estimated prolonged grief in about half, across a wide range (33.6 to 65.4 percent), and more after a violent killing: an estimate across studies, not a forecast for anyone. For neighbors who were not there, Raker and colleagues (2025), in a national sample of US adults, linked living where a mass shooting happened, without being hurt, to psychological distress.
A caller to Minnesota Public Radio in 2022 who had lost her brother said, "I struggle with being retraumatized with every gun incident," and "I tried to avoid any news because seeing imagery is really bad for me." One small step: one official update a day, with autoplay off.
If your child has heard
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has a guide to talking with children about a shooting and a parent sheet that says, "Children and teens may react differently to the shooting." UNICEF's State of Palestine guidance, written for children living amid violence, suggests asking, "What have you heard about this?" and being ready to listen. UNICEF Europe and Central Asia, writing for families in conflict and crisis, says that when someone close has died "the most important thing is not to hide or delay the truth." Cruse says "A violent death is likely to have a severe impact on a child or young person," naming doubt, anger and insecurity. At bedtime, try Psalm 34:18 as one line in your child's words, "God, be near to people whose hearts are broken," and let them say the names they want to pray for.
Words for saying it to God
Psalm 10 opens, "Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" and turns to "Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless." David Guzik, evangelical, calls it a psalm of "doubt about the success of the wicked". Habakkuk cries, "Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?" and Guzik sees the prophet "wrestling with tough questions rather than running from them." In Jeremiah 31:15, Rachel "refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." They give you the word violence, the question why, and the refusal to be comforted yet, in words already in the Bible. For a vigil, Bible verses for tragedy has Lamentations and readings.
Anger, and wanting justice
Psalm 94 prays: "Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve." It carries anger and the demand for justice to God as prayer. The Catholic Catechism (2302) separates a wish to do harm from restitution "to correct vices and maintain justice," and says (2843), "It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense." John Calvin, Reformed, reads Romans 12 to mean "it belongs not to us to revenge." Felipa Ramirez, a Chicago mother who lost her son to a shooting, said in a 2010 Chicago Sun-Times report reproduced by Pulitzer.org, "Whatever they do to him, it will not bring my son back." Your anger has room here, and forgiveness and its timing belong to the family.
For the pastor or group leader on Sunday
Timothy Y. Rhee in CT Pastors warns that a sermon after a shooting can become "a fuming rant" rather than "a pastoral word," and that in lament "what may feel long for the preacher is often too short for the listener." He advises support that reaches past the pulpit. A 1999 CT Pastors piece adds that "what they really need is help dealing with overwhelming emotion."
The Church of England's prayer after the Bondi attack begins, "God our refuge and strength, close at hand in our distress." Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops prayed in May 2026, "May God console the grieving, strengthen the injured, and guide us all toward greater understanding, justice, and peace." In John 11, Jesus "groaned in the spirit, and was troubled," and then "Jesus wept." Paul writes, "Weep with those who weep." One shape for Sunday: Psalm 34:15-21 read slowly, a real silence, the support numbers in the bulletin, and a meal rota begun that week.
What lands hard, and what to say instead
Nelba Márquez-Greene told The Nation of the gifts after her daughter was killed, "Oh, and the angels and the crosses!" Of being told her daughter was an angel: "I don't know that the Bible says that anywhere!" On the same MPR program, a mother who was told her son was "in a better place" answered, "No, the best place is with your parents in life." A Buffalo-area user on Reddit's r/atheism, who was not bereaved, wrote that "Sending thoughts and prayers" can sound like "I can't/won't do anything to help but I want to seem nice."
This site suggests instead: "I don't have words. I'm so sorry, and I'm here." Or, "I'm praying for you by name tonight, and I'm bringing food on Thursday." Or simply say the name of the person who died. What not to say to someone grieving collects more.
Where to go next
If the night gets heavy, please reach a person. In South Africa, the SADAG Suicide Crisis Helpline is on 0800 567 567 and LifeLine South Africa on 0861 322 322. In the United States, call or text 988. In Canada, call or text 9-8-8. In the UK and Republic of Ireland, Samaritans is on 116 123. In Australia, Lifeline is 13 11 14. Anywhere else, Find A Helpline lists lines by country.
Tonight, read Psalm 34:18 aloud once, with the name of the person you lost or for the families in KwaMakhutha. For anything else you carry, Bible Nudge can suggest a passage. Find a passage.
Words that come up here
Tap a term to see what it means.
Yahweh. The personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible, printed where many translations have "the LORD".