Psalms 77 · ESV Study Bible

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

PSALM 77 [†] I a cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.

2 b In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in c the night my d hand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul e refuses to be comforted.

3 When I remember God, I f moan;

when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

4[†] You hold my eyelids open;

I am so g troubled that I cannot speak.

5[†] I consider h the days of old,

the years long ago.

6[†] I said, [1] “Let me remember my i song in the night;

let me j meditate in my heart.”

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

7[†] “Will the Lord k spurn forever,

and never again l be favorable?

8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his m promises at an end for all time?

9 n Has God forgotten to be gracious?

o Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

10[†] Then I said, “I will appeal to this,

to the years of the p right hand of the Most High.” [2]

11[^] I will remember the deeds of the LORD;

yes, I will q remember your wonders of old.

12 I will ponder all your r work,

and meditate on your s mighty deeds.

13 Your way, O God, is t holy.

u What god is great like our God?

14[†] You are the God who v works wonders;

you have w made known your might among the peoples.

15 You x with your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16 When y the waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

indeed, the deep trembled.

17 The clouds poured out water;

the skies z gave forth thunder;

your a arrows flashed on every side.

18 b The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

c your lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth d trembled and shook.

19 Your e way was through the sea,

your path through the great waters;

yet your footprints f were unseen. [3]

20[†] You g led your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

A Maskil [1] of h Asaph.

PSALM—NOTE ON 77:20 flock. For the image of God’s people as sheep, and God as their Shepherd, see notes on 23:1; 74:1–3.

PSALM—NOTE ON 77:7–9 It does not offend God when his troubled people raise these questions with an interest in the explanation. Indeed, just putting the questions invites the answer, since they touch on the points of Ex. 34:6, which describes the enduring benevolence of God toward his people: if God abounds in steadfast love, then it cannot cease, nor can his promises be at an end; if God is gracious, he cannot forget to continue that grace, nor can he shut up his compassion. The key matter is the last line: has he done this in anger? God’s anger is a response to unfaithfulness on the part of his people, and will only remain if they remain impenitent. Hence this calls the people to examine themselves and to lay hold of the covenant afresh.

PSALM—NOTE ON 77:1–3 Opening Statement: I Cry Aloud to God. This section describes earnest prayer coming from a troubled heart: the statements I cry aloud to God (v. 1), I moan, and my spirit faints (v. 3) convey deep feeling, and my hand is stretched out (to God) is a common posture of prayer (cf. 44:20; 88:9; 143:6; Job 11:13; 1 Tim. 2:8). Here, however, it is not limited to prayer in public worship: it preoccupies his private moments as well (Ps. 77:2, in the night; cf. v. 4).

PSALM—NOTE ON 77:6 my song in the night. Since the word for “song” (Hb. neginah) occurs often in the sense of “stringed instruments” used in public worship (titles of Psalms 4; 6; 55; 61; 67; 76; Hab. 3:19; cf. Isa. 38:20), it is reasonable to suppose that these songs are worship songs, celebrating God’s mighty deeds for his people, which the faithful Israelite might sing in private for edification or comfort.

PSALM—NOTE ON Psalm 77. This is a community lament, suitable to a time when the people of God are in a low condition. The description of the low condition is general enough that the psalm cannot be tied to any specific occasion. The psalm acknowledges that the reason for the trouble may be some fault in the people: to refer to God’s “anger” (v. 9) raises the question of whether his people’s unfaithfulness provoked it; hence this is like Psalms 74; 79; and 80 in their recognition of this factor. (Psalm 44, on the other hand, is a community lament suited to an occasion in which the community’s unfaithfulness is not the cause of its trouble.) That this is a community lament is clear from the nature of the appeal in 77:10–20: “the years of the right hand of the Most High” (v. 10) refer to ancient times in which God “redeemed your people” (v. 15) and “led” them “like a flock” (v. 20). Thus the emphasis is on the condition of God’s people as a body; but this corporate focus is certainly not impersonal. Each person singing this owns his or her membership in the people, and acknowledges that his or her well-being is bound up with the well-being of the whole: “I cry aloud to God” (v. 1), “the day of my trouble” (v. 2), “I am so troubled” (v. 4). The Bible presents the individual as a member of the community and encourages each member to seek the good of the whole. The repeated key words here are “remember” and “meditate” (vv. 3, 6, 11–12), both of which appear in each of the main sections. The psalm moves from remembering and meditating on God (as the one who has made promises to his people), to remembering and meditating on how things once were better, to remembering and meditating on God’s mighty deeds of old that build confidence for his people’s future.

PSALM—NOTE ON 77:5 The days of old and the years long ago refer to earlier times, when it seemed that the condition of the people of God was better—this provokes the question, did God use up his favor? The answer is in vv. 10–11, repeating parts of these expressions: the “years of the right hand of the Most High” and the “wonders of old.”

PSALM—NOTE ON 77:14–15 God made known his might among the peoples (Ex. 15:14–16), and yet he redeemed just one people (Ex. 15:13), the children of Jacob and Joseph. On “redeem,” see note on Isa. 41:14.