Psalm 77
The full text of Psalm 77 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
For the music director. According to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.
1 My voice rises to God—I cry aloud;
my voice rises to God—may he hear me.
2 In the day of my distress I sought the Lord;
my hand was stretched out in the night and did not grow numb;
my soul refused to be comforted.
3 I remember God and I groan;
I meditate, and my spirit grows faint. Selah
4 You held my eyelids open;
I was too troubled to speak.
5 I considered the days of old,
the years of ages past.
6 I call to mind my song in the night;
I meditate in my heart,
and my spirit searches.
7 Will the Lord reject forever
and never again show favor?
8 Has his faithful love ceased for all time?
Has his promise come to an end for every generation?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion? Selah
10 And I said, "This is my grief—
that the right hand of the Most High has changed."
11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will meditate on all your work
and muse on your mighty acts.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is as great as our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
you made your strength known among the peoples.
15 With your arm you redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 The waters saw you, O God—
the waters saw you and writhed;
even the depths trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed back and forth.
18 The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
19 Your way was through the sea,
your path through the mighty waters,
yet your footprints were not seen.
20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Translation notes (4)
- Psalm 77:10a The Hebrew is famously terse and admits two readings. Challoti may derive from chalah, 'to be sick, grieved', and shenot may mean either 'years' or 'the changing of'. Thus the line can be heard as "This is my grief—that the right hand of the Most High has changed," or as an appeal to "the years of the right hand of the Most High," anticipating the remembrance of verse 11.
- Psalm 77:15a The nation is rarely called by Joseph's name; the pairing with Jacob here likely reflects the northern orientation of the Asaph psalms, which elsewhere speak of the people as Joseph (Psalm 80:1; 81:5). The mention of redemption by God's arm anticipates the exodus imagery that follows in verses 16-20.
- Psalm 77:19a The Hebrew mayim rabbim (מַיִם רַבִּים), 'mighty waters', evokes the crossing of the sea in Exodus 14–15, the event verse 20 makes explicit. The word for 'footprints', iqqevot (עִקְּבוֹת), literally 'heel-marks', is rare in this sense; the point is that God's deliverance left no visible trace of his passing, though its effects were unmistakable.
- Psalm 77:20a The psalm closes by recalling the exodus, when God brought Israel out of Egypt through the sea under the leadership of Moses and his brother Aaron (Exodus 14). The shepherd image, tso'n (צֹאן), 'flock', answers the preceding verse: though God's own footprints were unseen in the waters, his guidance was visible in the human leaders he appointed.
About this translation
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