Psalms 77:14-20

14 thou art God, that doest marvels. Thou madest thy virtue known among peoples; (thou art God, who doest marvellous deeds. Thou madest thy strength known among the nations;)

15 thou again-boughtest in thine arm thy people, the sons of Jacob and of Joseph. (with thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and of Joseph.)

16 God, waters saw thee, waters saw thee, and dreaded; and depths of waters were troubled. (God, the waters saw thee, the waters saw thee, and were afraid; and the depths of the waters were troubled.)

17 The multitude of the sound of waters; clouds gave voice. For why thine arrows pass [through]; (The clouds gave forth water, or the rain; the heavens sent out a multitude of sounds. Thy arrows passed through them;)

18 the voice of thy thunder was in a wheel. Thy lightnings shined to the world; the earth was moved, and trembled. (the sound of thy thunder was in the whirlwind. Thy lightnings shone upon the world; the earth was shaken, and trembled.)

19 Thy way in the sea, and thy paths in many waters; and thy steps shall not be known.

20 Thou leddest forth thy people as sheep; in the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Thou leddest forth thy people like sheep; by the guidance of Moses and Aaron.)

Psalms 77:14-20 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.