Psalm 77:2-9 NLT

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:3

My spirit was overwhelmed - As the verb is in the hithpaeI conjugation, the word must mean my spirit was overpowered in itself. It purposed to involve itself in this calamity. I felt exquisitely for my poor suffering countrymen. "The generous mind is not confined at home; It spreads itself abroad through all the public, And feels for every member of the land." read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:4

Thou holdest mine eyes waking - Literally, thou keepest the watches of mine eyes - my grief is so great that I cannot sleep. I am so troubled that I cannot speak - This shows an increase of sorrow and anguish. At first he felt his misery, and called aloud. He receives more light, sees and feels his deep wretchedness, and then his words are swallowed by excessive distress. His woes are too big for utterance. "Small troubles are loquacious; the great are dumb." Curae leves loquuntur;... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:5

I have considered the days of old - חשבתי chishshabti , I have counted up; I have reckoned up the various dispensations of thy mercy in behalf of the distressed, marked down in the history of our fathers. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:6

I call to remembrance my song in the night - I do not think that נגינתי neginathi means my song. We know that נגינת neginath signifies some stringed musical instrument that was struck with a plectrum, but here it possibly might be applied to the Psalm that was played on it. But it appears to me rather that the psalmist here speaks of the circumstances of composing the short ode contained in the seventh, eighth, and ninth verses; which it is probable he sung to his harp as a kind of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:7

Will the Lord cast off for ever? - Will there be no end to this captivity? Has he not said, "Turn, ye backsliders; for I am married unto you: I will heal your backsliding, and love you freely." Will he then be favorable no more? Thus the psalmist pleads and reasons with his Maker. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:8

For evermore? - ודר לדר ledor vador , "to generation and generation." From race to race. Shall no mercy be shown even to the remotest generation of the children of the offenders? read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:9

Hath God - in anger shut up his tender mercies? - The tender mercies of God are the source whence all his kindness to the children of men flows. The metaphor here is taken from a spring, the mouth of which is closed, so that its waters can no longer run in the same channel; but, being confined, break out, and take some other course. Wilt thou take thy mercy from the Israelites, and give it to some other people? This he most certainly did. He took it from the Jews, and gave it to the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:2

Verse 2 2.I sought the Lord in the day of my trouble. In this verse he expresses more distinctly the grievous and hard oppression to which the Church was at that time subjected. There is, however, some ambiguity in the words. The Hebrew word יד , yad, which I have translated hand, is sometimes taken metaphorically for a wound; and, therefore, many interpreters elicit this sense, My wound ran in the night, and ceased not, (286) that is to say, My wound was not so purified from ulcerous matter as... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:3

Verse 3 3.I will remember God, and will be troubled. The Psalmist here employs a variety of expressions to set forth the vehemence of his grief, and, at the same time, the greatness of his affliction. He complains that what constituted the only remedy for allaying his sorrow became to him a source of disquietude. It may, indeed, seem strange that the minds of true believers should be troubled by remembering God. But the meaning of the inspired writer simply is, that although he thought upon God... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:4

Verse 4 4.Thou hast held the watches of my eyes. (288) This verse is to the same effect with the preceding. The Psalmist affirms that he spent whole nights in watching, because God granted him no relief. The night in ancient times was usually divided into many watches; and, accordingly, he describes his continued grief, which pre. vented him from sleeping, by the metaphorical term watches. When he stated a little before that he prayed to God with a loud voice, and when he now affirms that he... read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:3

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:4

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:5

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:6

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:7

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:8

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:9

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:2

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:3

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 77:4

Group of Brands