I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
Psalms 77:1-20.-Complaint under desertion by God; past deliverances remembered, aggravate present pain (Psalms 77:1-3); cause of grief, God holds His eyes sleepless even at night; he can scarcely speak for grief, and can only ask, Will the Lord cast off forever? (Psalms 77:4-9;) faith rises above infirmity; he calls to mind God's past wonders, as the deliverance at the Red Sea, and His leading Israel like a flock: the remembrance no longer aggravates his pain, but assures of deliverance (Psalms 77:10-20). Habakkuk 3:1-19 seems derived from this psalm in part. So this psalm cannot be later than Josiah's reign, when Habakkuk lived. The carrying away of the Ten tribes, and the prospect of Judah sharing a like fate, was probably the cause of the Psalmist's grief. Hence, he alludes to the deliverance out of Egyptian bondage, now that a like bondage existed in part, and was in part impending.
On the Title, Jeduthun, see note on title, Psalms 39:1-13; Psalms 62:1-12.
I cried unto God with my voice ... and he gave ear unto me. He anticipates the result at the beginning, giving at one glance a view of the whole psalm. The Hebrew is literally 'My voice to God! and I will cry [the final Hebrew character, he (h), implies effort] ... and by hearing unto me.' As the first verse is joined with the second and third in the strophe, and does not stand by itself as an introduction, it is perhaps better to translate, 'My voice (shall be directed) to God, and I will cry ... and may He hear me!'