Psalms 77:16

The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed.

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed.

BSB

The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and swirled; even the depths were shaken.

KJV

The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

ASV

The waters saw thee, O God; The waters saw thee, they were afraid: The depths also trembled.

BBE

The waters saw you, O God; the waters saw you, they were in fear: even the deep was troubled.

Original Hebrew

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The early church

And he continues how? "The waters have seen You, O God, and they have feared and the abysses have been troubled" [Psalm 77:16]. What are the waters? The peoples. What are these waters has been asked in the Apocalypse, [Revelation 17:15] the answer was, the peoples. There we find most clearly waters put by a figure for peoples. But above he had said, "You have made known in the peoples Your virtue." With reason therefore, "the waters have seen You, and they have feared." They have been changed because they have feared. What are the abysses? The depths of waters. What man among the peoples is not troubled, when the conscience is smitten? You seek the depth of the sea, what is deeper than human conscience? That is the depth which was troubled, when God redeemed with His arm His people. In what manner were the abysses troubled? When all men poured forth their consciences in confession.
Augustine of Hippo · d. 430Expositions on the Psalms

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 11–20

The remembrance of the works of God, will be a powerful remedy against distrust of his promise and goodness; for he is God, and changes not. God's way is in the sanctuary. We are sure that God is holy in all his works. God's ways are like the deep waters, which cannot be fathomed; like the way of a ship, which cannot be tracked. God brought Israel out of Egypt. This was typical of the great redemption to be wrought out in the fulness of time, both by price and power. If we have harboured doubtful thoughts, we should, without delay, turn our minds to meditate on that God, who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, that with him, he might freely give us all things.

Read Matthew Henry on Psalm 77 →

Spurgeon · Verse 16

The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid. As if conscious of its Maker's presence, the sea was ready to flee from before his face. The conception is highly poetical, the psalmist has the scene before his mind's eye, and describes it gloriously. The water saw its God, but man refuses to discern him; it was afraid, but proud sinners are rebellious and fear not the Lord. The depths also were troubled. To their heart the floods were made afraid. Quiet caves of the sea, far down in the abyss, were moved with fear; and the lowest channels were left bare, as the water rushed away from its place, in terror of the God of Israel.

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Cross-references

7

Topics

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.