diff --git a/packages/xpath/src/functions/xforms/node-set.ts b/packages/xpath/src/functions/xforms/node-set.ts
index c51a16366..a0bd3e1c8 100644
--- a/packages/xpath/src/functions/xforms/node-set.ts
+++ b/packages/xpath/src/functions/xforms/node-set.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import sha256 from 'crypto-js/sha256';
+
 import type { XPathNode } from '../../adapter/interface/XPathNode.ts';
 import type { XPathDOMProvider } from '../../adapter/xpathDOMProvider.ts';
 import { LocationPathEvaluation } from '../../evaluations/LocationPathEvaluation.ts';
@@ -384,8 +386,38 @@ export const randomize = new NodeSetFunction(
 
 		const nodeResults = Array.from(results.values());
 		const nodes = nodeResults.map(({ value }) => value);
-		const seed = seedExpression?.evaluate(context).toNumber();
-
-		return seededRandomize(nodes, seed);
+		if (seedExpression === undefined)
+			return seededRandomize(nodes);
+		const seed = seedExpression.evaluate(context);
+		const asNumber = seed.toNumber(); // TODO: There are some peculiarities to address: https://github.com/getodk/web-forms/issues/240
+		let finalSeed: number | bigint | undefined;
+		if (Number.isNaN(asNumber)) {
+			// Specific behaviors for when a seed value is not interpretable as numeric.
+			// We still want to derive a seed in those cases, see https://github.com/getodk/javarosa/issues/800
+			const seedString = seed.toString();
+			if (seedString === '') {
+				finalSeed = 0; // special case: JR behaviour
+			} else {
+			// any other string, we'll convert to a number via a digest function
+				finalSeed = toBigIntHash(seedString);
+			}
+		} else {
+			finalSeed = asNumber;
+		}
+		return seededRandomize(nodes, finalSeed);
 	}
 );
+
+function toBigIntHash(text: string): bigint {
+	// hash text with sha256, and interpret the first 64 bits of output
+	// (the first and second int32s ("words") of CryptoJS digest output)
+	// as a BigInt. Thus the entropy of the hash is reduced to 64 bits, which
+	// for some applications is sufficient.
+	// The underlying representations are big-endian regardless of the endianness
+	// of the machine this runs on, as is the equivalent JavaRosa implementation
+	// at https://github.com/getodk/javarosa/blob/ab0e8f4da6ad8180ac7ede5bc939f3f261c16edf/src/main/java/org/javarosa/xpath/expr/XPathFuncExpr.java#L718-L726
+	const buffer = new ArrayBuffer(8);
+	const dataview = new DataView(buffer);
+	sha256(text).words.slice(0, 2).forEach((val, ix) => dataview.setInt32(ix * 4, val));
+	return dataview.getBigInt64(0);
+}
diff --git a/packages/xpath/src/lib/collections/sort.ts b/packages/xpath/src/lib/collections/sort.ts
index 6e324b3c3..a6f6971f8 100644
--- a/packages/xpath/src/lib/collections/sort.ts
+++ b/packages/xpath/src/lib/collections/sort.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class SeededPseudoRandomNumberGenerator implements PseudoRandomNumberGenerator {
 
 	constructor(seed: Int | bigint) {
 		let initialSeed: number;
-		if (typeof(seed) === ("bigint")) {
+		if (typeof seed === 'bigint') {
 			// the result of the modulo operation is always smaller than Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER,
 			// thus it's safe to convert to a Number.
 			initialSeed = Number(BigInt(seed) % BigInt(SEED_MODULO_OPERAND));
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class SeededPseudoRandomNumberGenerator implements PseudoRandomNumberGenerator {
 	}
 }
 
-export const seededRandomize = <T>(values: readonly T[], seed?: number): T[] => {
+export const seededRandomize = <T>(values: readonly T[], seed?: number | bigint): T[] => {
 	let generator: PseudoRandomNumberGenerator;
 
 	if (seed == null) {
@@ -64,12 +64,11 @@ export const seededRandomize = <T>(values: readonly T[], seed?: number): T[] =>
 		// In Java, a NaN double's .longValue is 0
 		if (Number.isNaN(seed)) finalSeed = 0;
 		// In Java, an Infinity double's .longValue() is 2**63 -1, which is larger than Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER, thus we'll need a BigInt.
-		else if (seed === Infinity) finalSeed = 2n ** 63n -1n;
+		else if (seed === Infinity) finalSeed = 2n ** 63n - 1n;
 		// Analogous with the above conversion, but for -Infinity
 		else if (seed === -Infinity) finalSeed = -(2n ** 63n);
-		// A Java double's .longValue drops the fractional.
-		else if (typeof(seed) === "number" && !Number.isInteger(seed)) finalSeed = Math.trunc(seed);
-		// TODO: There's still more peculiarities to address: https://github.com/getodk/web-forms/issues/240
+		// A Java double's .longValue drops the fractional part.
+		else if (typeof seed === 'number' && !Number.isInteger(seed)) finalSeed = Math.trunc(seed);
 		else finalSeed = seed;
 		generator = new SeededPseudoRandomNumberGenerator(finalSeed);
 	}