2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn't get tired. My soul refused to be comforted.
With my soul have I desired you in the night; yes, with my spirit within me will I seek you earnestly: for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
Yahweh, in trouble have they visited you; they poured out a prayer [when] your chastening was on them.
> Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.
By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted excessively. Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."
"Come, and let us return to Yahweh; For he has torn us to pieces, And he will heal us; He has injured us, And he will bind up our wounds.
When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, And sent to king Jareb: But he is not able to heal you, Neither will he cure you of your wound.
Why should you be beaten more, That you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: Wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven't been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil.
A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, But a crushed spirit, who can bear?
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; and he said, "If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape." Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, 'Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good.' I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children. You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can't be numbered because there are so many.'"
> Hear my prayer, Yahweh! Let my cry come to you. Don't hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
> Yahweh, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you. Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry. For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.
When I remember you on my bed, And think about you in the night watches.
There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, Neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. My wounds are loathsome and corrupt, Because of my foolishness. I am pained and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long. For my loins are filled with burning. There is no soundness in my flesh. I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart.
Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am faint. Yahweh, heal me, for my bones are troubled. My soul is also in great anguish. But you, Yahweh--how long?
"If you set your heart aright, Stretch out your hands toward him.
Now when Mordecai knew all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; and he came even before the king's gate: for none might enter within the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. In every province, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. Esther's maidens and her chamberlains came and told it her; and the queen was exceedingly grieved: and she sent clothing to clothe Mordecai, and to take his sackcloth from off him; but he didn't receive it.
If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be;
Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sit [above] the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, Yahweh, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent him to defy the living God. Of a truth, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save you us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you Yahweh are God alone. Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard [you].
They said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. It may be Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 77
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.