Psalms 77:9-19

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he slammed the door on his compassion? Interlude

10 And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.”

11 But then I recall all you have done, O LORD ; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

12 They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

13 O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you?

14 You are the God of great wonders! You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.

15 By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude

16 When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled! The sea quaked to its very depths.

17 The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky. Your arrows of lightning flashed.

18 Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world! The earth trembled and shook.

19 Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters— a pathway no one knew was there!

Psalms 77:9-19 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]. Hebrew the waters.