Psalm 77:1-3

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

1 ^[a]I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.

2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.

3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.^[b]

Psalm 77:1-3 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.

Cross References

• 1. S 1 Kings 8:52; Psalms 3:4
• 2. S Genesis 32:7; S 2 Samuel 22:7; S Psalms 118:5; Psalms 50:15; Isaiah 26:9,16
• 3. Psalms 6:6; Psalms 22:2; Psalms 88:1
• 4. S Exodus 9:29; S Job 11:13
• 5. S Genesis 37:35; Matthew 2:18
• 6. Psalms 78:35
• 7. Exodus 2:23; S Psalms 6:6; Jeremiah 45:3
• 8. S Psalms 6:2; Psalms 143:4

Footnotes

• [a] In Hebrew texts 77:1-20 is numbered 77:2-21.
• [b] The Hebrew has "Selah" (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 9 and 15.