:
1 I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. 3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. 4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. 6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. 7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? 8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? 9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. 10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. 11 I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. 12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. 13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? 14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people. 15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. 16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. 17 The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. 18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. 19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. 20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:1
"With my voice," he says, "to the Lord I have cried" [Psalm 77:1]. But many men cry unto the Lord for the sake of getting riches and avoiding losses, for the safety of their friends, for the security of their house, for temporal felicity, for secular dignity, lastly, even for mere soundness of body, which is the inheritance of the poor man. For such and such like things many men do cry unto the Lord; scarce one for the sake of the Lord Himself. For an easy thing it is for a man to desire anything of the Lord, and not to desire the Lord Himself; as if forsooth that which He gives could be sweeter than Himself that gives. Whosoever therefore does cry unto the Lord for the sake of any other thing, is not yet one that leaps over....He does indeed hearken to you at the time when thou dost seek Himself, not when through Himself thou dost seek any other thing. It has been said of some men, "They cried, and there was no one to save them; to the Lord, and He hearkened not unto them." For why? Because the voice of them was not unto the Lord. This the Scripture does express in another place, where it says of such men, "On the Lord they have not called." Unto Him they have not ceased to cry, and yet upon the Lord they have not called. What is, upon the Lord they have not called? They have not called the Lord unto themselves: they have not invited the Lord to their heart, they would not have themselves inhabited by the Lord. And therefore what has befallen them? "They have trembled with fear where fear was not." They have trembled about the loss of things present, for the reason that they were not full of Him, upon whom they have not called. They have not loved gratis, so that after the loss of temporal things they could say, "As it has pleased the Lord, so has been done, be the name of the Lord blessed." [Job 1:21] Therefore this man says, "My voice is unto the Lord, and He does hearken unto me." Let him show us how this comes to pass.

[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 77:2-3
Prayers are recited early in the morning so that the first movements of the soul and the mind may be consecrated to God and that we may take up no other consideration before we have been cheered and heartened by the thought of God, as it is written: “I remembered God and was delighted,” and that the body may not busy itself with tasks before we have fulfilled the words “To you will I pray, O Lord; in the morning you shall hear my voice. In the morning I will stand before you and will see.”

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 77:2-3
Let us flee from here. You can flee in spirit, even though you are kept back in body. You can both be here and be in the presence of the Lord, if your soul clings to him and you walk after him in your thoughts, if you follow his ways, not in pretense but in faith, and take refuge in him. For he is a refuge and a power, and David says to him, “I fled to you for refuge, and I was not deceived.” And so, because God is a refuge, and because he is, moreover, in heaven and above the heavens, surely we must flee from here to there, where there is peace and rest from labors and where we can feast upon the great sabbath, even as Moses said, “And the sabbaths of the land shall be food for you.” For it is a banquet, and one filled with enjoyment and serenity, to rest in God and to look on his delight. We have taken refuge with God; shall we return to the world? We have died to sin; shall we seek sins again? We have renounced the world and the use of it; shall we stick fast again in its mire?

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:2-3
..."My soul has refused to be comforted" [Psalm 77:2]. So great weariness did here possess me, that my soul did close the door against all comfort. Whence such weariness to him? It may be that his vineyard has been hailed on, or his olive has yielded no fruit, or the vintage has been interrupted by rain. Whence the weariness to him? Hear this out of another Psalm. For therein is the voice of the same: "weariness has bowed me down, because of sinners forsaking Your law." He says then that he was overcome with so great weariness because of this sort of evil thing; so as that his soul refused to be comforted. Weariness had well near swallowed him up, and sorrow had ingulfed him altogether beyond remedy, he refuses to be comforted. What then remained? In the first place, see whence he is comforted. Had he not waited for one who might condole with him?. .."I have been mindful of God, and I have been delighted" [Psalm 77:3]. My hands had not wrought in vain, they had found a great comforter. While not being idle, "I have been mindful of God, and I have been delighted." God must therefore be praised, of whom this man being mindful, has been delighted, and has been comforted in sorrowful case, and refreshed when safety was in a manner despaired of: God must therefore be praised. In fine, because he has been comforted, in continuation he says, "I have babbled." In that same comfort being made mindful of God, I have been delighted, and have "babbled." What is, "I have babbled"? I have rejoiced, I have exulted in speaking. For babblers they are properly called, that by the common people are named talkative, who at the approach of joy are neither able nor willing to be silent. This man has become such an one. And again he says what? "And my spirit has fainted."

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:2-3
But now in that part of the reading that sounded most recently in your ears, what did you hear Thomas saying? “I won’t believe, unless I touch.” And the Lord says to this Thomas, “Come, touch, put your hands into my side, and do not be incredulous but believing.” “I,” he is saying, “if you do not think it is enough for me to offer myself to your eyes, am also offering myself to your hands. Perhaps, you see, you are one of those who sing in the psalm, ‘In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord with my hands in the night in his presence.’ ” Why was he seeking with his hands? Because he was seeking in the night. What does that mean, was seeking in the night? He was carrying the darkness of unbelief in his heart.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:2
"In the day of tribulation I have sought out God" [Psalm 77:2]. Who are you that doest this thing? In the day of your tribulation take heed what you seek out. If a jail be the cause of tribulation, you seek to get forth from jail: if fever be the cause of tribulation, you seek health: if hunger be the cause of tribulation, you seek fullness: if losses be the cause of tribulation, you seek gain: if expatriation be the cause of tribulation, you seek the home of your flesh. And why should I name all things, or when could I name all things? Do you wish to be one leaping over? In the day of your tribulation seek out God: not through God some other thing, but out of tribulation God, that to this end God may take away tribulation, that you may without anxiety cleave unto God. "In the day of my tribulation, I have sought out God:" not any other thing, but "God I have sought out." And how have you sought out? "With my hands in the night before Him."...

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Psalms 77:2-3
Notice, too, what the psalmist said. When he told them, “On the day of my distress I sought God,” he also added, “My hands were stretched out”; further, “by night” and also “before him.” What is distress? What does it mean to stretch out one’s hands, and what does it mean to do so before God? There is distress when we suffer annoyances and stretching out of hands [when we engage] in good deeds. Searching by night occurs in this world when the truth has not yet shed light. This world will certainly come to an end and will meet Christ [in judgment]. And when Christ comes, he will be like the sun shining in the hearts of all people. Why did he add “before him”? The person who stretches out his hands performs good deeds. However, the person who thus performs good deeds in order to please people does not do so before God; that is, in order to please him rather than human beings. Quite rightly, then, “I was not deceived” follows; a person who has sought God in this way [may say,] “I have not been deceived.” He has found what he was seeking, and therefore he has told us, “Ask, seek, knock.”

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:4
With weariness he had pined away; by calling to mind God, he had been delighted, again in babbling he had fainted: what follows? "All mine enemies have anticipated watches" [Psalm 77:4]. All mine enemies have kept watch over me; they have exceeded in keeping watch over me; in watching they have been beforehand with me. Where do they not lay traps? Have not mine enemies anticipated all watches? For who are these enemies, but they of whom the Apostle says, "You have not wrestling against flesh and blood." [Ephesians 6:12] ...Against the devil and his angels we are waging hostilities. Rulers of the world he has called them, because they do themselves rule the lovers of the world. For they do not rule the world, as if they were rulers of heaven and earth: but he is calling sinners the world....With the devil and his angels there is no concord. They do themselves grudge us the kingdom of Heaven. They cannot at all be appeased towards us: because "all mine enemies have anticipated watches." They have watched more to deceive than I to guard myself. For how can they have done otherwise than anticipate watches, that have set everywhere scandals, everywhere traps? Weariness does invest the heart, we have to fear lest sorrow swallow us up: in joy to fear lest the spirit faint in babbling: "all mine enemies have anticipated watches." In fine, in the midst of that same babbling, whiles you are speaking, and art speaking without fear, how much is oft-times found which enemies would lay hold of and censure, whereon they would even found accusation and slander— "he said so, he thought so, he spoke so!" What should man do, save that which follows? "I have been troubled, and I spoke not." Therefore when he was troubled, lest in his babbling enemies anticipating watches should seek and find slanders, he spoke not....

[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on Psalms 77:5-10
Sufficient defense has been offered on these points, and as for that which Eunomius says by way of calumny against our doctrine, that “Christ was emptied to become himself” there has been sufficient discussion in what has been said above, where he has been shown to be attributing to our doctrine his own blasphemy. For a person who believes that the unchangeable [divine] nature has put on the created and perishable [human nature] is not one who speaks of the transition from like to like but one who believes that the divine nature does not change into the more lowly [human nature]. For if, as their doctrine asserts, he is created, and a human being is created also, the wonder of the doctrine disappears, and there is nothing marvelous in what is alleged, since the created nature comes to be in itself. But we who have learned from prophecy of “the change of the right hand of the Most High”—and by the “Right Hand” of the Father we understand that power of God, which made all things, which is the Lord (not in the sense of depending on him as a part upon a whole but as being indeed from him and yet contemplated in individual existence)—say thus: that neither does the right hand vary from him whose right hand it is, in regard to the idea of its nature, nor can any other change in it be spoken of besides the accommodation to the flesh. For truly the right hand of God was God himself; manifested in the flesh, seen through that same flesh by those whose sight was clear; as he did the work of the Father, being, both in fact and in thought, the right hand of God, yet being changed, in respect of the veil of the flesh by which he was surrounded, as regarded that which was seen, from that which he was by nature, as a subject of contemplation. Therefore he says to Philip, who was gazing only at that which was changed, “Look through that which is changed to that which is unchangeable, and if you see this, you have seen that Father, whom you seek to see; for he that has seen me—not him who appears in a state of change, but my very self, who am in the Father—will have seen that Father in whom I am, because the very same character of Godhead is beheld in both.” If, then, we believe that the immortal and impassible and uncreated nature came to be in the nature of the creature that is capable of suffering, and conceive the “change” to consist in this, on what grounds are we charged with saying that he “set aside his divine powers to become incarnate,” by those who keep presenting their own statements about our doctrines? For the participation of the created with the created is no “change of the right hand.” To say that the right hand of the uncreated nature is created belongs to Eunomius alone and to those who adopt such opinions as he holds. For the person with an eye that looks on the truth will discern the right hand of the Highest to be such as he sees the Highest to be—Uncreated of Uncreated, Good of Good, Eternal of Eternal without prejudice to its eternity by its being in the Father by way of generation. Thus our accuser has unawares been employing against us reproaches that properly fall on himself.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:5-10
Let no man then so understand the words of the Psalmist, “Shall God forget to be gracious? shall he shut up in his anger his tender mercies” as if the sentence of God were true of good men, false of bad men, or true of good men and wicked angels, but false of bad men. For the Psalmist’s words refer to the vessels of mercy and the children of the promise, of whom the prophet himself was one; for when he had said, “Shall God forget to be gracious? shall he shut up in his anger his tender mercies?” and then immediately subjoins, “And I said, Now I begin: this is the change wrought by the right hand of the Most High,” he manifestly explained what he meant by the words, “Shall he shut up in his anger his tender mercies?” For God’s anger is this mortal life, in which man is made like to vanity, and his days pass as a shadow. Yet in this anger God does not forget to be gracious, causing his sun to shine and his rain to descend on the just and the unjust; and thus he does not in his anger cut short his tender mercies, and especially in what the Psalmist speaks of in the words, “Now I begin: this change is from the right hand of the Most High;” for he changes for the better the vessels of mercy, even while they are still in this most wretched life, which is God’s anger, and even while his anger is manifesting itself in this miserable corruption; for “in his anger he does not shut up his tender mercies.” And since the truth of this divine canticle is quite satisfied by this application of it, there is no need to give it a reference to that place in which those who do not belong to the city of God are punished in eternal fire. But if any persist in extending its application to the torments of the wicked, let them at least understand it so that the anger of God, which has threatened the wicked with eternal punishment, shall abide, but shall be mixed with mercy to the extent of alleviating the torments which might justly be inflicted; so that the wicked shall neither wholly escape, nor only for a time endure these threatened pains, but that they shall be less severe and more endurable than they deserve. Thus the anger of God shall continue, and at the same time he will not in this anger shut up his tender mercies.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:5-10
It is quite in vain, then, that some—indeed very many—yield to merely human feelings and deplore the notion of the eternal punishment of the damned and their interminable and perpetual misery. They do not believe that such things will be. Not that they would go counter to divine Scripture—but, yielding to their own human feelings, they soften what seems harsh and give a milder emphasis to statements they believe are meant more to terrify than to express the literal truth. “God will not forget,” they say, “to show mercy, nor in his anger will he shut up his mercy.” This is, in fact, the text of a holy psalm. But there is no doubt that it is to be interpreted to refer to those who are called “vessels of mercy,” those who are freed from misery not by their own merits but through God’s mercy. Even so, if they suppose that the text applies to all people, there is no ground for them further to suppose that there can be an end for those of whom it is said, “Thus these shall go into everlasting punishment.” Otherwise, it can as well be thought that there will also be an end to the happiness of those of whom the antithesis was said: “But the righteous into life eternal.”

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:5
"I have thought on ancient days" [Psalm 77:5]. Now he, as if he were one who had been beaten out of doors, has taken refuge within: he is conversing in the secret place of his own heart. And let him declare to us what he is doing there. It is well with him. Observe what things he is thinking of, I pray you. He is within, in his own house he is thinking of ancient days. No one says to him, you have spoken ill: no one says to him, you have spoken much: no one says to him, you have thought perversely. Thus may it be well with him, may God aid him: let him think of the ancient days, and let him tell us what he has done in his very inner chamber, whereunto he has arrived, over what he has leaped, where he has abode. "I have thought on ancient days; and of eternal years I have been mindful." What are eternal years? It is a mighty thought. See whether this thought requires anything but great silence. Apart from all noise without, from all tumult of things human let him remain quiet within, that would think of those eternal years. Are the years wherein we are eternal, or those wherein our ancestors have been, or those wherein our posterity are to be? Far be it that they should be esteemed eternal. For what part of these years does remain? Behold we speak and say, "in this year:" and what have we got of this year, save the one day wherein we are. For the former days of this year have already gone by, and are not to be had; but the future days have not yet come. In one day we are, and we say, in this year: nay rather say thou, today, if you desire to speak of anything present. For of the whole year what have you got that is present? Whatsoever thereof is past, is no longer; whatsoever thereof is future, is not yet: how then, "this year"? Amend the expression: say, today. You speak truth, henceforth I will say, "today." Again observe this too, how today the morning hours have already past, the future hours have not yet come. This too therefore amend: say, in this hour. And of this hour what have you got? Some moments thereof have already gone by, those that are future have not yet come. Say, in this moment. In what moment? While I am uttering syllables, if I shall speak two syllables, the latter does not sound until the former has gone by: in a word, in that same one syllable, if it chance to have two letters, the latter letter does not sound, until the former has gone by. What then have we got of these years? These years are changeable: the eternal years must be thought on, years that stand, that are not made up of days that come and depart; years whereof in another place the Scripture says to God, "But You are the Self-same, and Your years shall not fail." On these years this man that leaps over, not in babbling without, but in silence has thought.

[AD 461] Leo the Great on Psalms 77:5-10
What mind can understand this mystery, what tongue has the capability of explaining this grace? Iniquity turns back into innocence, oldness into newness. Strangers come into adoption, and foreigners enter on an inheritance. Godless people have started to be just, the covetous to be beneficent, the incontinent to be chaste, the “earthly” to be “heavenly.” What has effected “this change” but the “right hand of the Most High”? For “the Son of God came to undo the devil’s works.” He grafted himself into us and us into himself in such a way that God’s descent to human affairs became the elevation of human beings to those divine.

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Psalms 77:5-10
I cannot express in words, most excellent son, how much I am delighted with your work and your life. For on hearing of the power of a new miracle in our days, to wit, that the whole nation of the Goths has through your excellency been brought over from the error of the Arian heresy to the firmness of a right faith, one is disposed to exclaim with the prophet, “This is the change wrought by the right hand of the most High.” For whose breast, even though stony, would not, on hearing of so great a work, soften in praises of almighty God and love of your excellency? As for me, I declare that it delights me often to tell these things that have been done through you to my sons27 who consult with me, and often together with them I marvel at these things. These things also for the most part cause me to become critical of myself, in that I languish sluggish and unprofitable in listless ease, while kings are laboring in the gathering together of souls for the gains of the heavenly country.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:6
"And I have meditated in the night with my heart" [Psalm 77:6]. No slanderous person seeks for snares in his words, in his heart he has meditated. "I babbled." Behold there is the former babbling. Watch again, that your spirit faint not. I did not, he says, I did not so babble as if it were abroad: in another way now. How now? "I did babble, and did search out my spirit." If he were searching the earth to find veins of gold, no one would say that he was foolish; nay, many men would call him wise, for desiring to come at gold: how great treasures has a man within, and he digs not! This man was examining his spirit, and was speaking with that same his spirit, and in the very speaking he was babbling. He was questioning himself, was examining himself, was judge over himself. And he continues; "I did search my spirit." He had to fear lest he should stay within his own spirit: for he had babbled without; and because all his enemies had anticipated watches, he found there sorrow, and his spirit fainted. He that did babble without, lo, now does begin to babble within in safety, where being alone in secret, he is thinking on eternal years....

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:7-8
And you have found what? "God will not repel for everlasting" [Psalm 77:7]. Weariness he had found in this life; in no place a trustworthy, in no place a fearless comfort. Unto whatsoever men he betook himself, in them he found scandal, or feared it. In no place therefore was he free from care. An evil thing it was for him to hold his peace, lest perchance he should keep silence from good words; to speak and babble without was painful to him, lest all his enemies, anticipating watches, should seek slanders in his words. Being exceedingly straitened in this life, he thought much of another life, where there is not this trial. And when is he to arrive there? For it cannot but be evident that our suffering here is the anger of God. This thing is spoken of in Isaiah, "I will not be an avenger unto you for everlasting, nor will I be angry with you at all times." [Isaiah 57:16] ...Will this anger of God always abide? This man has not found this in silence. For he says what? "God will not repel for everlasting, and He will not add any more that it should be well-pleasing to Him still." That is, that it should be well-pleasing to Him still to repel, and He will not add the repelling for everlasting. He must needs recall to Himself His servants, He must needs receive fugitives returning to the Lord, He must needs hearken to the voice of them that are in fetters. "Or unto the end will He cut off mercy from generation to generation?" [Psalm 77:8].

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:9
"Or will God forget to be merciful?" [Psalm 77:9]. In you, from you unto another there is no mercy unless God bestow it on you: and shall God Himself forget mercy? The stream runs: shall the spring itself be dried up? "Or shall God forget to be merciful: or shall He keep back in anger His mercies?" That is, shall He be so angry, as that He will not have mercy? He will more easily keep back anger than mercy.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:10
"And I said." Now leaping over himself he has said what? "Now I have begun:" [Psalm 77:10], when I had gone out even from myself. Here henceforth there is no danger: for even to remain in myself, was danger. "And I said, Now I have begun: this is the changing of the right hand of the Lofty One." Now the Lofty One has begun to change me: now I have begun something wherein I am secure: now I have entered a certain palace of joys, wherein no enemy is to be feared: now I have begun to be in that region, where all mine enemies do not anticipate watches. "Now I have begun: this is the changing of the right hand of the Lofty One."

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:11
"I have been mindful of the works of the Lord" [Psalm 77:11]. Now behold him roaming among the works of the Lord. For he was babbling without, and being made sorrowful thereby his spirit fainted: he babbled within with his own heart, and with his spirit, and having searched out that same spirit he was mindful of the eternal years, was mindful of the mercy of the Lord, how God will not repel him for everlasting; and he began now fearlessly to rejoice in His works, fearlessly to exult in the same. Let us hear now those very works, and let us too exult. But let even us leap over in our affections, and not rejoice in things temporal. For we too have our bed. Why do we not enter therein? Why do we not abide in silence? Why do we not search out our spirit? Why do we not think on the eternal years? Why do we not rejoice in the works of God? In such sort now let us hear, and let us take delight in Himself speaking, in order that when we shall have departed hence, we may do that which we used to do while He spoke; if only we are making the beginning of Him whereof he spoke in, "Now I have begun." To rejoice in the works of God, is to forget even yourself, if you can delight in Him alone. For what is a better thing than He? Do you not see that, when you return to yourself, you return to a worse thing? "for I shall be mindful from the beginning of Your wonderful works."

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:12
"And I will meditate on all Your works, and on Your affections I will babble" [Psalm 77:12]. Behold the third babbling! He babbled without, when he hinted; he babbled in his spirit within, when he advanced: he babbled on the works of God, when he arrived at the place toward which he advanced. "And on Your affections:" not on any affections. What man does live without affections? And do ye suppose, brethren, that they who fear God, worship God, love God, have not any affections? Will you indeed suppose and dare to suppose, that painting, the theatre, hunting, hawking, fishing, engage the affections, and the meditation on God does not engage certain interior affections of its own, while we contemplate the universe, and place before our eyes the spectacle of the natural world, and therein labour to discover the Maker, and find Him nowhere unpleasing, but pleasing above all things?

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:13
"O God, Your way is in the Holy One" [Psalm 77:13]. He is contemplating now the works of the mercy of God around us, out of these he is babbling, and in these affections he is exulting. At first he is beginning from thence, "Your way is in the Holy One?" What is that way of Yours which is in the Holy One? "I am," He says, "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." [John 14:6] Return therefore, you men, from your affections...."Who is a great God, like our God?" Gentiles have their affections regarding their gods, they adore idols, they have eyes and they see not; ears they have and they hear not; feet they have and they walk not. Why do you walk to a God that walks not? I do not, he says, worship such things, and what do you worship? The divinity which is there. You then worship that whereof has been said elsewhere, "for the Gods of the nations are demons." You either worship idols, or devils. Neither idols, nor devils, he says. And what do you worship? The stars, sun, moon, those things celestial. How much better Him that has made both things earthly and things celestial. "Who is a great God like our God?"

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:14
"You are the God that doest wonderful things alone" [Psalm 77:14]. You are indeed a great God, doing wonderful things in body, in soul; alone doing them. The deaf have heard, the blind have seen, the feeble have recovered, the dead have risen, the paralytic have been strengthened. But these miracles were at that time performed on bodies, let us see those wrought on the soul. Sober are those that were a little before drunken, believers are those that were a little before worshippers of idols: their goods they bestow on the poor that did rob before those of others...."Wonderful things alone." Moses too did them, but not alone: Elias too did them, even Eliseus did them, the Apostles too did them, but no one of them alone. That they might have power to do them, You were with them: when You did them they were not with You. For they were not with You when You did them, inasmuch as You made even these very men. How "alone"? Is it perchance the Father, and not the Son? Or the Son, and not the Father? Nay, but Father and Son and Holy Ghost. For it is not three Gods but one God that does wonderful things alone, and even in this very leaper-over. For even his leaping over and arriving at these things was a miracle of God: when he was babbling within with his own spirit, in order that he might leap over even that same spirit of his, and might delight in the works of God, he then did wonderful things himself. But God has done what? "You have made known unto the people Your power." Thence this congregation of Asaph leaping over; because He has made known in the peoples His virtue. What virtue of His has He made known in the peoples? "But we preach Christ crucified,...Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." [1 Corinthians 1:23] If then the virtue of God is Christ, He has made known Christ in the peoples. Do we not yet perceive so much as this; and are we so unwise, are we lying so much below, do we so leap over nothing, as that we see not this?

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:15
"You have redeemed in Your arm Your people" [Psalm 77:15]. "With Your arm," that is, with Your power. "And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" [Isaiah 53:1] "You have redeemed in Your arm Your people, the sons of Israel and of Joseph." How as if two peoples, "the sons of Israel and of Joseph"? Are not the sons of Joseph among the sons of Israel?...He has admonished us of some distinction to be made. Let us search out our spirit, perchance God has placed there something— God whom we ought even by night to seek with our hands, in order that we may not be deceived— perchance we shall discover even ourselves in this distinction of "sons of Israel and of Joseph." By Joseph He has willed another people to be understood, has willed that the people of the Gentiles be understood. Why the people of the Gentiles by Joseph? Because Joseph was sold into Egypt by his brethren. [Genesis 37:28] That Joseph whom the brethren envied, and sold him into Egypt, when sold into Egypt, toiled, was humbled; when made known and exalted, flourished, reigned. And by all these things he has signified what? What but Christ sold by His brethren, banished from His own land, as it were into the Egypt of the Gentiles? There at first humbled, when the Martyrs were suffering persecutions: now exalted, as we see; inasmuch as there has been fulfilled in Him, "There shall adore Him all kinds of the earth, all nations shall serve Him." Therefore Joseph is the people of the Gentiles, but Israel the people of the Hebrew nation. God has redeemed His people, "the sons of Israel and of Joseph." By means of what? By means of the corner stone, [Ephesians 2:20] wherein the two walls have been joined together.

[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Psalms 77:16-20
“When our Lord had arrived and had entered the boat with Simon, the wind abated.” The Arian, therefore, who contradicts the birth [of the Lord] is also rejected, through the word that those who were in the boat spoke, “They came and worshiped him, and they were saying to him, ‘You are indeed the Son of God.’ ” It is he of whom it is written, “The waters saw you and trembled, and the depths too were stirred up. Your pathways are on many waters, and your footsteps are not known.” So they confessed by their word that he, concerning whom these things were spoken, was indeed the Son of God.

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 77:16-20
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? When the waters were divided, the people crossed over, believing because of the dust under their feet that the sea had fled and that the waters had vanished. Therefore, the Egyptian believed what he saw and entered in, but the waters that had fled returned for him. The waters, then, know how to gather, how to fear and how to flee, when commanded to do so by God. Let us imitate these waters, and let us recognize one congregation of the Lord, one church.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:16
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.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:17-18
In praises of God, in confessions of sins, in hymns and in songs, in prayers, "There is a multitude of the sound of waters. The clouds have uttered a voice" [Psalm 77:17]. Thence that sound of waters, thence the troubling of the abysses, because "the clouds have uttered a voice." What clouds? The preachers of the word of truth. What clouds? Those concerning which God does menace a certain vineyard, which instead of grape had brought forth thorns and He says, "I will command My clouds, that they rain no rain upon it." [Isaiah 5:6] In a word, the Apostles forsaking the Jews, went to the Gentiles: in preaching Christ among all nations, "the clouds have uttered a voice." "For Your arrows have gone through." Those same voices of the clouds He has again called arrows. For the words of the Evangelists were arrows. For these things are allegories. For properly neither an arrow is rain, nor rain is an arrow: but yet the word of God is both an arrow because it does smite; and rain because it does water. Let no one therefore any longer wonder at the troubling of the abysses, when "Your arrows have gone through." What is, "have gone through"? They have not stopped in the ears, but they have pierced the heart. "The voice of Your thunder is in the wheel" [Psalm 77:18]. What is this? How are we to understand it? May the Lord give aid. When boys we were wont to imagine, whenever we heard thunderings from Heaven, that carriages were going forth as it were from the stables. For thunder does make a sort of rolling like carriages. Must we return to these boyish thoughts, in order to understand, "the voice of Your thunder is in the wheel," as though God has certain carriages in the clouds, and the passing along of the carriages does raise that sound? Far be it. This is boyish, vain, trifling. What is then, "The voice of Your thunder is in the wheel"? Your voice rolls. Not even this do I understand. What shall we do? Let us question Idithun himself, to see whether perchance he may himself explain what he has said: "The voice," he says, "of Your thunder is in the wheel." I do not understand. I will hear what you say, "Your lightnings have appeared to the round world." Say then, I had no understanding. The round world is a wheel. For the circuit of the round world is with reason called also an "orb:" whence also a small wheel is called an "orbiculus." "The voice of Your thunder is in the wheel:" Your "lightnings have appeared to the round world." Those clouds in a wheel have gone about the round world, have gone about with thundering and with lightning, they have shaken the abyss, with commandments they have thundered, with miracles they have lightened. "Unto every land has gone forth the sound of them, and unto the ends of the orb the words of them." "The land has been moved and made to tremble:" that is, all men that dwell in the land. But by a figure the land itself is sea. Why? Because all nations are called by the name of sea, inasmuch as human life is bitter, and exposed to storms and tempests. Moreover if you observe this, how men devour one another like fishes, how the stronger does swallow up the weaker— it is then a sea, unto it the Evangelists went.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:19
"Your way is in the sea" [Psalm 77:19]. But now Your way was in the Holy One, now "Your way is in the sea:" because the Holy One Himself is in the sea, and with reason even did walk upon the waters of the sea. [Matthew 14:25] "Your way is in the sea," that is, Your Christ is preached among the Gentiles...."Your way is in the sea, and Your paths in many waters," that is, in many peoples. "And Your footsteps will not be known." He has touched certain, and wonder were it if it be not those same Jews. Behold now the mercy of Christ has been so published to the Gentiles, that "Your way is in the sea. Your footsteps will not be known." How so, by whom will they not be known, save by those who still say, Christ has not yet come? Why do they say, Christ has not yet come? Because they do not yet recognise Him walking on the sea.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 77:20
"You have led home Your people like sheep in the hand of Moses and of Aaron" [Psalm 77:20]. Why He has added this is somewhat difficult to discover....They banished Christ; sick as they were, they would not have Him for their Saviour; but He began to be among the Gentiles, and among all nations, among many peoples. Nevertheless, a remnant of that people has been saved. The ungrateful multitude has remained without, even the halting breadth of Jacob's thigh. [Genesis 32:32] For the breadth of the thigh is understood of the multitude of lineage, and among the greater part of the Israelites a certain multitude became vain and foolish, so as not to know the steps of Christ on the waters. "You have led home Your people like sheep," and they have not known You. Though You have done such great benefits unto them, hast divided sea, hast made them pass over dry land between waters, hast drowned in the waves pursuing enemies, in the desert hast rained manna for their hunger, leading them home "by the hand of Moses and Aaron:" still they thrust You from them, so that in the sea was Your Way, and Your steps they knew not.