Psalms 77:1-11

1 To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. I cried out to God with my voice-- To God with my voice; And He gave ear to me.

2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; My soul refused to be comforted.

3 I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah

4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I have considered the days of old, The years of ancient times.

6 I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, And my spirit makes diligent search.

7 Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more?

8 Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore?

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah

10 And I said, "This is my anguish; But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High."

11 I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

Psalms 77:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

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.