Fathers

Psalms 77

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My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted. I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can’t speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; my spirit diligently inquires: “Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more? Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?” Then I thought, “I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High.” I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all your work, and consider your doings. Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What god is great like God? You are the God who does wonders. You have made your strength known among the peoples. You have redeemed your people with your arm, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed. The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around. The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known. You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 77:16

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

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. …

Exposition on Psalm 77 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

This is not the only example of the obedience of water available to us, for elsewhere we find it written, "The waters saw you, O God; the waters saw you, and they were afraid." What is said here of the waters does not seem to be without a semblance of truth, since elsewhere the prophet also speaks in the same manner: "The sea saw and fled; Jordan was turned back." Who does not know how in actual fact the sea fled at the crossing of the Hebrews? …

The Six Days of Creation 3.1.2 ↗

Jerome

The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you, and they feared. For the moment let us speak according to the letter; let us cling to the earth for the sake of the simpler folk. When the people passed through the Red Sea and through the Jordan, the waters understood their Creator, and the people did not understand. And the depths were troubled. "The sea saw, and fled: the Jordan was turned back." The great sound of the waters. "The clouds shook out the waters," it has in the Hebrew. The clouds gave forth their voice. …

Homily 10, on Psalm 76 ↗