Chapter 76

(To the choir-master. Melody: Idithun. Of Asaph. A psalm.)

A cry to my God in loud appeal, a cry to my God, to win his hearing!

To the Lord I look when distress comes upon me; in his presence I lift up my hands amid the darkness, never wearied; grief like mine there is no comforting.

Of God I bethink me, yet sighing still; of God I muse, yet ever faint-hearted.

Sleepless that thought holds me, yet bewildered and dumb.

I reflect upon days long past, the immemorial years possess my mind;

deep musings occupy my thoughts at midnight, never will my mind be at rest.

Can it be that God will always leave us forsaken, will never shew us again his old kindness?

Can his favour desert us altogether, his promise be set aside eternally?

Can God forget to be gracious, can anger move him to withhold his mercy?

For me, I tell myself, this sorrow was reserved; the most High has altered the fashion of his dealings with men.

To remember all the Lord has done, to recall those wonderful acts of thine, long ago!

To ponder over all thy doings, pass thy wonders in review!

Thy path, O God, is hedged about with holiness; what god is great as our God is great?

Thy own wonderful acts acclaim thy Deity; even to the Gentiles thou wouldst make thy power known,

by forcing them to set free thy people, the sons of Jacob and of Joseph.

The waters saw thee, O God, the waters trembled at the sight of thee, moved to their inmost depths;

how the waves roared, how the clouds volleyed rain, what echoes from their midst! To and fro thy arrows passed,

thy crackling thunders rolled, till all the world shone with thy lightning, and the troubled earth shook.

Thy way led through the sea, the deep tide made a road for thee, and none may read the traces of thy passage,

where thou, with Moses and Aaron for thy shepherds, didst bring thy people out on their journey.