3 I remember God, and make a noise, I meditate, and feeble is my spirit. Selah.
From the end of the land unto Thee I call, In the feebleness of my heart, Into a rock higher than I Thou dost lead me.
For arrows of the Mighty `are' with me, Whose poison is drinking up my spirit. Terrors of God array themselves `for' me!
Therefore, from His presence I am troubled, I consider, and am afraid of Him. And God hath made my heart soft, And the Mighty hath troubled me.
For a dread unto me `is' calamity `from' God, And because of His excellency I am not able.
What! bowest thou thyself, O my soul? And what! art thou troubled within me? Wait for God, for still I confess Him, The salvation of my countenance, and my God!
What! bowest thou thyself, O my soul? And what! art thou troubled within me? Wait for God, for still I confess Him, The salvation of my countenance, and my God!
For my soul hath been full of evils, And my life hath come to Sheol. I have been reckoned with those going down `to' the pit, I have been as a man without strength. Among the dead -- free, As pierced ones lying in the grave, Whom Thou hast not remembered any more, Yea, they by Thy hand have been cut off. Thou hast put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in depths. Upon me hath Thy fury lain, And `with' all Thy breakers Thou hast afflicted. Selah. Thou hast put mine acquaintance far from me, Thou hast made me an abomination to them, Shut up -- I go not forth. Mine eye hath grieved because of affliction, I called Thee, O Jehovah, all the day, I have spread out unto Thee my hands. To the dead dost Thou do wonders? Do Rephaim rise? do they thank Thee? Selah. Is Thy kindness recounted in the grave? Thy faithfulness in destruction? Are Thy wonders known in the darkness? And Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? And I, unto Thee, O Jehovah, I have cried, And in the morning doth my prayer come before Thee. Why, O Jehovah, castest Thou off my soul? Thou hidest Thy face from me. I `am' afflicted, and expiring from youth, I have borne Thy terrors -- I pine away. Over me hath Thy wrath passed, Thy terrors have cut me off, They have surrounded me as waters all the day, They have gone round against me together, Thou hast put far from me lover and friend, Mine acquaintance `is' the place of darkness!
For consumed in smoke have been my days, And my bones as a fire-brand have burned. Smitten as the herb, and withered, is my heart, For I have forgotten to eat my bread. From the voice of my sighing Hath my bone cleaved to my flesh. I have been like to a pelican of the wilderness, I have been as an owl of the dry places. I have watched, and I am As a bird alone on the roof. All the day mine enemies reproached me, Those mad at me have sworn against me. Because ashes as bread I have eaten, And my drink with weeping have mingled, From Thine indignation and Thy wrath, For Thou hast lifted me up, And dost cast me down. My days as a shadow `are' stretched out, And I -- as the herb I am withered. And Thou, O Jehovah, to the age abidest, And Thy memorial to all generations. Thou -- Thou risest -- Thou pitiest Zion, For the time to favour her, For the appointed time hath come. For Thy servants have been pleased with her stones, And her dust they favour. And nations fear the name of Jehovah, And all kings of the earth Thine honour, For Jehovah hath builded Zion, He hath been seen in His honour, He turned unto the prayer of the destitute, And He hath not despised their prayer. This is written for a later generation, And the people created do praise Jah. For He hath looked From the high place of His sanctuary. Jehovah from heaven unto earth looked attentively, To hear the groan of the prisoner, To loose sons of death, To declare in Zion the name of Jehovah, And His praise in Jerusalem, In the peoples being gathered together, And the kingdoms -- to serve Jehovah. He hath humbled in the way my power, He hath shortened my days. I say, `My God, take me not up in the midst of my days,' Through all generations `are' Thine years. Beforetime the earth Thou didst found, And the work of Thy hands `are' the heavens. They -- They perish, and Thou remainest, And all of them as a garment become old, As clothing Thou changest them, And they are changed. And Thou `art' the same, and Thine years are not finished. The sons of Thy servants do continue, And their seed before Thee is established!
And my spirit in me is become feeble, Within me is my heart become desolate. I have remembered days of old, I have meditated on all Thine acts, On the work of Thy hand I muse.
Be not Thou to me for a terror, My hope `art' Thou in a day of evil.
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.