18 The voice of your thunder went rolling on; the world was flaming with the light of the storm; the earth was shaking.
At this my heart is shaking; it is moved out of its place. Give ear to the rolling noise of his voice; to the hollow sound which goes out of his mouth. He sends it out through all the heaven, and his thunder-flame to the ends of the earth. After it a voice is sounding, thundering out the word of his power; he does not keep back his thunder-flames; from his mouth his voice is sounding. He does wonders, more than may be searched out; great things of which we have no knowledge;
The voice of the Lord is on the waters: the God of glory is thundering, the Lord is on the great waters. The voice of the Lord is full of power; the voice of the Lord has a noble sound. By the voice of the Lord are the cedar-trees broken, even the cedars of Lebanon are broken by the Lord. He makes them go jumping about like a young ox; Lebanon and Sirion like a young mountain ox. At the voice of the Lord flames of fire are seen. At the voice of the Lord there is a shaking in the waste land, even a shaking in the waste land of Kadesh. At the voice of the Lord the roes give birth, the leaves are taken from the trees: in his Temple everything says, Glory.
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Commentary on Psalms 77 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 77
Ps 77:1-20. To Jeduthun—(See on Ps 39:1, title). In a time of great affliction, when ready to despair, the Psalmist derives relief from calling to mind God's former and wonderful works of delivering power and grace.
1. expresses the purport of the Psalm.
2. his importunacy.
my sore ran … night—literally, "my hand was spread," or, "stretched out" (compare Ps 44:20).
ceased not—literally, "grew not numb," or, "feeble" (Ge 45:26; Ps 38:8).
my soul … comforted—(compare Ge 37:35; Jer 31:15).
3-9. His sad state contrasted with former joys.
was troubled—literally, "violently agitated," or disquieted (Ps 39:6; 41:5).
my spirit was overwhelmed—or, "fainted" (Ps 107:5; Jon 2:7).
4. holdest … waking—or, "fast," that I cannot sleep. Thus he is led to express his anxious feelings in several earnest questions indicative of impatient sorrow.
10. Omitting the supplied words, we may read, "This is my affliction—the years of," &c., "years" being taken as parallel to affliction (compare Ps 90:15), as of God's ordering.
11, 12. He finds relief in contrasting God's former deliverances. Shall we receive good at His hands, and not evil? Both are orderings of unerring mercy and unfailing love.
13. Thy way … in the sanctuary—God's ways of grace and providence (Ps 22:3; 67:2), ordered on holy principles, as developed in His worship; or implied in His perfections, if "holiness" be used for "sanctuary," as some prefer translating (compare Ex 15:11).
14-20. Illustrations of God's power in His special interventions for His people (Ex 14:1-31), and, in the more common, but sublime, control of nature (Ps 22:11-14; Hab 3:14) which may have attended those miraculous events (Ex 14:24).
15. Jacob and Joseph—representing all.
19. waters … , footsteps—may refer to His actual leading the people through the sea, though also expressing the mysteries of providence.