Psalm 77

1 I cried to the Lord with my voice, yea, my voice was addressed to God; and he gave heed to me.

2 In the day of mine affliction I earnestly sought the Lord; even with my hands by night before him, and I was not deceived; my soul refused to be comforted.

3 I remembered God, and rejoiced; I poured out my complaint, and my soul fainted. Pause.

4 All mine enemies set a watch against me: I was troubled, and spoke not.

5 I considered the days of old, and remembered ancient years.

6 And I meditated; I communed with my heart by night, and diligently searched my spirit, saying,

7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be well pleased no more?

8 Will he cut off his mercy for ever, even for ever and ever?

9 Will God forget to pity? or will he shut up his compassions in his wrath? Pause.

10 And I said, Now I have begun; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High.

11 I remembered the works of the Lord; for I will remember thy wonders from the beginning.

12 And I will meditate on all thy works, and will consider thy doings.

13 O God, thy way is in the sanctuary; who is a great God as our God?

14 Thou art the God that doest wonders; thou hast made known thy power among the nations.

15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Pause.

16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, and feared; and the depths were troubled.

17 There was an abundant sound of waters: the clouds uttered a voice; for thine arrows went abroad.

18 The voice of thy thunder was abroad, and around thy lightnings appeared to the world; the earth trembled a quaked.

19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters, and thy footsteps cannot be known.

20 Thou didst guide thy people as sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalm 77 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.