Psalms 77

I cried out to God with my voice. Yes, I called out loud to God, and he listened to me.

1I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

2When trouble came, I looked to the Lord. All night long I kept my hands stretched out to him, and I did not grow tired of it. Still, I would not let myself be comforted.

2In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

NoteThe King James "my sore ran in the night" uses an old sense of "sore" meaning a wound, reading the Hebrew as an injury that would not stop discharging. The Hebrew more likely says "my hand was stretched out through the night and did not grow numb." Hands held out or lifted up were the ordinary posture for prayer, so the line pictures a whole night of unbroken pleading.

3I thought about God, and I groaned. I kept turning it over in my mind, and my spirit grew weak. Selah.

3I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

Note"Selah" appears seventy-one times in the Psalms, and its meaning was already lost by the time of the earliest translations. It is usually taken as a direction to the musicians or the congregation (a pause, an instrumental break, a lift in volume), rather than as part of the words being sung. Translators leave it untranslated because no one knows what to put in its place.

4You keep my eyes from closing. I am too upset to speak.

4Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5I thought back to the days long ago, to the years of times long past.

5I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

6At night I remember my song. I talk it over in my own heart, and my spirit searches hard for an answer.

6I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

7Will the Lord turn us away forever? Will he never again be kind to us?

7Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

8Is his faithful love gone for good? Has his promise failed for all time?

8Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

Note"Mercy" in the King James translates the Hebrew word hesed: the loyal, committed kindness owed inside a binding relationship. It is closer to a promise kept than to a warm feeling, which is why the next line pairs it with a failed promise.

9Has God forgotten how to be kind? Has his anger closed off his deep pity? Selah.

9Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

Note"Tender mercies" translates a Hebrew word built on the word for womb. It names a physical, gut-level compassion, the kind felt for one's own child, rather than a decision to be lenient.

10Then I said, "This is what weakens me. But I will remember the years when the Most High reached out with his powerful right hand."

10And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

NoteThis is one of the hardest verses in the Psalms, and translators genuinely disagree. The Hebrew can be read as the King James takes it ("this is my weakness, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High") or as "my grief is this: the right hand of the Most High has changed." The first turns the psalm toward hope at this point; the second keeps it a complaint. The "right hand" is a standard idiom for a person's strength and their power to act.

11I will remember the things the LORD has done. Yes, I will remember the wonders you did long ago.

11I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

NoteThe King James prints "LORD" in capital letters wherever the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, four consonants usually written YHWH. "Lord" in ordinary type, as in verses 2 and 7, translates a different word, adonai, meaning master or sovereign. The distinction is invisible when the text is read aloud.

12I will think carefully about everything you have done, and I will speak about your mighty acts.

12I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

13God, the way you act is holy. What god is as great as our God?

13Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

NoteThe Hebrew word here can mean either "holiness" or "the holy place," that is, the sanctuary where God was worshiped. So the line reads either "your way is holy" or "your way runs through the sanctuary," and translations divide between the two.

14You are the God who does wonders. You have shown your strength to the nations.

14Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

15With your strong arm you set your people free, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

15Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

Note"Redeemed" translates a Hebrew legal term for buying back what belongs to your family, a relative's freedom, or land and property sold off under debt. Applied to a whole nation it points to the escape from slavery in Egypt, which the rest of the psalm describes. Jacob was the ancestor of the twelve tribes; Joseph was his son. Naming both together is unusual, and may reflect that Joseph's descendants were the leading tribes of the northern kingdom.

16The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you and twisted in fear. Even the deep places shook.

16The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

NoteFrom here to the end, the psalm is describing the escape from Egypt, when the sea divided and the people crossed. "The depths" translates a Hebrew word used for the primeval ocean, and in the poetry of the ancient Near East the sea is regularly pictured as a power that writhes or recoils when God appears.

17The clouds poured down water. The skies rumbled with thunder. Your arrows flashed in every direction.

17The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

NoteArrows are standard ancient imagery for lightning. The storm is being described as a warrior shooting, with thunder as the shout and lightning as the arrows.

18The sound of your thunder rolled in the whirling storm. Your lightning lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.

18The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

NoteThe King James "in the heaven" renders a Hebrew word that more likely means a whirlwind, or a rolling wheel. The picture is of thunder crashing inside a spinning storm rather than simply sounding overhead.

19Your road ran through the sea, and your path through the deep waters, yet no one could find your footprints.

19Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

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

20Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

NoteMoses and Aaron were brothers who led the Israelites out of Egypt; Moses spoke for God to Pharaoh, and Aaron served as priest. Calling a nation a flock and its leaders shepherds was ordinary political language in the ancient Near East, applied to kings and gods alike. The psalm stops here, without ever returning to the trouble the speaker began with.