Psalms 77:17

17 Clouds belched buckets of rain, Sky exploded with thunder, your arrows flashing this way and that.

Psalms 77:17 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 77:17

The clouds poured out water
This, with some other circumstances which follow, are not related by Moses in the history of this affair; but as they are here recorded by an inspired penman, there is no doubt to be made of the truth of them; besides Josephus F1 relates the same things; he says, that at the time when the Egyptians were drowned in the Red sea, rains descended from heaven, and there were terrible thunders, lightnings, and thunderbolts; this was when the Lord looked through the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, ( Exodus 14:24 ) ,

the skies sent out a sound;
or the airy clouds, the lighter ones, and which were higher in the heavens, as the others before mentioned were thick clouds, full of water, and hung lower; these were thunderclouds, and thunder is the sound which they sent forth, as in the following verse:

thine arrows also went abroad:
that is, lightnings, as in ( Psalms 18:14 ) , so Aben Ezra; but Kimchi interprets them of hailstones.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 Antiqu. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 3.

Psalms 77:17 In-Context

15 You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble, rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph.
16 Ocean saw you in action, God, saw you and trembled with fear; Deep Ocean was scared to death.
17 Clouds belched buckets of rain, Sky exploded with thunder, your arrows flashing this way and that.
18 From Whirlwind came your thundering voice, Lightning exposed the world, Earth reeled and rocked.
19 You strode right through Ocean, walked straight through roaring Ocean, but nobody saw you come or go.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.