1 To the chief musician, on (or over) Jeduthun; a psalm of Asaph.
2 My voice is to God, and I will cry; my voice [is] to God, and he will give ear to me.
3 In the day of my distress I sought the Lord (Adonai); my hand was stretched out in the night and slacked not; my soul refused to be comforted.
4 I remembered God and was disquieted; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
5 Thou holdest mine eyes watching, I am troubled and cannot speak.
6 I consider the days of old, the years of ancient times.
7 I call to remembrance my song in the night; I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit maketh diligent search.
8 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favorable no more?
9 Hath his mercy failed for ever? hath the word come to an end from generation to generation?
10 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? or hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
11 And I said, This [is] mine infirmity: the years of the right hand of the Most High.
12 The deeds of Jah I will remember; for I will remember thy wonders of old.
13 And I will meditate on all thy work and muse on thy doings.
14 O God, in the sanctuary [is] thy way: who [is] a great God like God?
15 Thou [art] the God (El) working wonders; thou hast made known among the peoples thy strength.
16 Thou hast with [thine] arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
17 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they trembled, yea, the depths were troubled.
18 The thick clouds poured out waters; the skies sent out a voice, yea, thine arrows went abroad.
19 The voice of thy thunder [was] in the whirlwind (or circuit); the lightnings lightened the world; the earth trembled and shook.
20 In the sea [is] thy way, and thy paths in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
21 Thou hast led, as the sheep, thy people by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Notes on Psalm 77
Here it is “To the chief musician, on Jeduthun, a psalm of Asaph.”
The second of these psalms is an inward dealing suited to that day of distress when God will have heart-searching in His ancient people before their complete deliverance. The remembrance of the past may produce anguish in the present but gives hope for the future. God’s way is in the sanctuary as well as in the sea; and faith lays hold of both. For the Christian, it is the settled favor and everlasting deliverance in Christ, dead, risen, and ascended, that we rest on. But the Israelite, if he looks on His way in the sanctuary, enjoys the wonders of His arm; if he turn as a man to His way in the sea, he has to acknowledge that His footsteps are not known.