Psalms 77:16-20

16 The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed.

17 The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth.

18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.

19 Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.

20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalms 77:16-20 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. Exodus 14:21,28; Isaiah 50:2; Habakkuk 3:8
• 2. Psalms 114:4; Habakkuk 3:10
• 3. S Judges 5:4
• 4. S Exodus 9:23; S Psalms 29:3
• 5. S Deuteronomy 32:23
• 6. S Psalms 55:8
• 7. S 2 Samuel 22:13
• 8. S Judges 5:4
• 9. S Exodus 14:22
• 10. S Job 9:8; Habakkuk 3:15
• 11. S Exodus 13:21
• 12. Psalms 78:52; Isaiah 63:11
• 13. S Exodus 4:16; S Numbers 33:1