1 > My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, And for him to listen to me.
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn't get tired. My soul refused to be comforted.
3 I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah.
4 You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can't speak.
5 I have considered the days of old, The years of ancient times.
6 I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; My spirit diligently inquires:
7 "Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more?
8 Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?" Selah.
10 Then I thought, "I will appeal to this: The years of the right hand of the Most High."
11 I will remember Yah's deeds; For I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will also meditate on all your work, And consider your doings.
13 Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What god is great like God?
14 You are the God who does wonders. You have made your strength known among the peoples.
15 You have redeemed your people with your arm, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
16 The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed.
17 The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around.
18 The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.
19 Your way was through the sea; Your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.
20 You led your people like a flock, By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 77
Commentary on Psalms 77 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 77
Ps 77:1-20. To Jeduthun—(See on Ps 39:1, title). In a time of great affliction, when ready to despair, the Psalmist derives relief from calling to mind God's former and wonderful works of delivering power and grace.
1. expresses the purport of the Psalm.
2. his importunacy.
my sore ran … night—literally, "my hand was spread," or, "stretched out" (compare Ps 44:20).
ceased not—literally, "grew not numb," or, "feeble" (Ge 45:26; Ps 38:8).
my soul … comforted—(compare Ge 37:35; Jer 31:15).
3-9. His sad state contrasted with former joys.
was troubled—literally, "violently agitated," or disquieted (Ps 39:6; 41:5).
my spirit was overwhelmed—or, "fainted" (Ps 107:5; Jon 2:7).
4. holdest … waking—or, "fast," that I cannot sleep. Thus he is led to express his anxious feelings in several earnest questions indicative of impatient sorrow.
10. Omitting the supplied words, we may read, "This is my affliction—the years of," &c., "years" being taken as parallel to affliction (compare Ps 90:15), as of God's ordering.
11, 12. He finds relief in contrasting God's former deliverances. Shall we receive good at His hands, and not evil? Both are orderings of unerring mercy and unfailing love.
13. Thy way … in the sanctuary—God's ways of grace and providence (Ps 22:3; 67:2), ordered on holy principles, as developed in His worship; or implied in His perfections, if "holiness" be used for "sanctuary," as some prefer translating (compare Ex 15:11).
14-20. Illustrations of God's power in His special interventions for His people (Ex 14:1-31), and, in the more common, but sublime, control of nature (Ps 22:11-14; Hab 3:14) which may have attended those miraculous events (Ex 14:24).
15. Jacob and Joseph—representing all.
19. waters … , footsteps—may refer to His actual leading the people through the sea, though also expressing the mysteries of providence.