Psalm 77:1-9

1 I cry aloud to God; I cry aloud, and he hears me.

2 In times of trouble I pray to the Lord; all night long I lift my hands in prayer, but I cannot find comfort.

3 When I think of God, I sigh; when I meditate, I feel discouraged.

4 He keeps me awake all night; I am so worried that I cannot speak.

5 I think of days gone by and remember years of long ago.

6 I spend the night in deep thought; I meditate, and this is what I ask myself:

7 "Will the Lord always reject us? Will he never again be pleased with us?

8 Has he stopped loving us? Does his promise no longer stand?

9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has anger taken the place of his compassion?"

Psalm 77:1-9 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.

Footnotes

• [a] [Some ancient translations] deep thought; [Hebrew] song.