Tehillim 77

1 7 (For the one directing. Set to Yedutun. Mizmor of Asaph) I cried unto Elohim with my voice, even unto Elohim with my voice; and He gave ear unto me.

23 (3) In my yom tzoros (day of trouble) I sought Adonoi; my hand was stretched up in the lailah, and ceased not; my nefesh refused to be comforted.

34 (4) I remembered Elohim, and groaned; I pondered, and my ruach was overwhelmed. Selah.

45 (5) Thou holdest mine eyelids awake; I am so troubled that lo adaber (I cannot speak).

56 (6) I have considered the yamim mikedem (days of old), the shnot olamim (years long past).

67 (7) I called to remembrance my neginah balailah (song in the night); I communed with mine own lev; and my ruach pondered with diligent search.

78 (8) Will Adonoi cast off forever? And will He show favor no more?

89 (9) Is His chesed passed away forever? Is His promise at an end l’dor vador?

101 (11) And I said, This is my affliction; but I will remember the shanot of the Yemin Elyon (Right Hand of the Most High).

111 (12) I will remember the deeds of Hashem; surely I will remember Thy wonders mikedem (of old, of long ago).

121 (13) I will meditate also on kol po’al (all work) of Thine, and consider Thy mighty deeds.

131 (14) Thy Derech, O Elohim, is bakodesh (in holiness). Who is so gadol El as Elohim?

141 (15) Thou art HaEl oseh peleh (the G-d that doest wonders); Thou hast declared Thy oz (strength) among the amim (peoples, nations).

151 (16) Thou hast with Thine zero’a (strong arm) redeemed Thy people, the Bnei Ya’akov and Yosef. Selah.

161 (17) The mayim saw Thee, O Elohim, the mayim saw Thee; they were afraid; the tehomot (ocean depths) also writhed.

171 (18) The clouds poured down mayim; the skies resounded in thunder; Thine khitzim (arrows, i.e., lightning bolts) also went forth

181 (19) The voice of Thy thunder was in the galgal (whirlwind); the lightning lit up the tevel (world); ha’aretz trembled and quaked.

192 (20) Thy derech is in the yam (sea), and Thy path is through the mayim rabbim (great waters), and Thy footsteps are not to be discerned.

202 (21) Thou didst lead Thy people like a tzon (flock) by the yad Moshe and Aharon.

910 (10) Hath El (G-d) forgotten to be channot (gracious)? Hath He in anger shut up His rachamim (mercy)? Selah.

Tehillim 77 Commentary

Chapter 77

The psalmist's troubles and temptation. (1-10) He encourages himself by the remembrance of God's help of his people. (11-20)

Verses 1-10 Days of trouble must be days of prayer; when God seems to have withdrawn from us, we must seek him till we find him. In the day of his trouble the psalmist did not seek for the diversion of business or amusement, but he sought God, and his favor and grace. Those that are under trouble of mind, must pray it away. He pored upon the trouble; the methods that should have relieved him did but increase his grief. When he remembered God, it was only the Divine justice and wrath. His spirit was overwhelmed, and sank under the load. But let not the remembrance of the comforts we have lost, make us unthankful for those that are left. Particularly he called to remembrance the comforts with which he supported himself in former sorrows. Here is the language of a sorrowful, deserted soul, walking in darkness; a common case even among those that fear the Lord, ( Isaiah 50:10 ) . Nothing wounds and pierces like the thought of God's being angry. God's own people, in a cloudy and dark day, may be tempted to make wrong conclusions about their spiritual state, and that of God's kingdom in the world. But we must not give way to such fears. Let faith answer them from the Scripture. The troubled fountain will work itself clear again; and the recollection of former times of joyful experience often raises a hope, tending to relief. Doubts and fears proceed from the want and weakness of faith. Despondency and distrust under affliction, are too often the infirmities of believers, and, as such, are to be thought upon by us with sorrow and shame. When, unbelief is working in us, we must thus suppress its risings.

Verses 11-20 The remembrance of the works of God, will be a powerful remedy against distrust of his promise and goodness; for he is God, and changes not. God's way is in the sanctuary. We are sure that God is holy in all his works. God's ways are like the deep waters, which cannot be fathomed; like the way of a ship, which cannot be tracked. God brought Israel out of Egypt. This was typical of the great redemption to be wrought out in the fulness of time, both by price and power. If we have harboured doubtful thoughts, we should, without delay, turn our minds to meditate on that God, who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, that with him, he might freely give us all things.

Chapter Summary

To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. Jeduthun was the name of the chief musician, to whom this psalm was inscribed and sent; see 1 Chronicles 25:1, though Aben Ezra takes it to be the first word of some song, to the tune of which this was sung; and the Midrash interprets it of the subject of the psalm, which is followed by Jarchi, who explains it thus, "concerning the decrees and judgments which passed upon Israel;" that is, in the time of their present captivity, to which, as he, Kimchi, and Arama think, the whole psalm belongs. Some interpreters refer it to the affliction of the Jews in Babylon, so Theodoret; or under Ahasuerus, or Antiochus; and others to the great and last distress of the church under antichrist; though it seems to express the particular case of the psalmist, and which is common to other saints.