Psalms 77:14
in Psalms 77You are the God who works wonders; You display Your strength among the peoples.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou art the God that doest wonders: Thou hast made known thy strength among the peoples.
KJV
Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.
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This verse in Psalms 77
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThou art the God that doest wonders,.... In nature, providence, and grace; it seems chiefly to regard what was done for the Israelites in Egypt, and in the wilderness, see Psa 78:12, thou hast declared thy strength among the people; the nations of the world, who heard what the Lord did for Israel by his mighty power, and with an outstretched arm, as follows.
This site's exposition
Your way, O God, is holy
on Psalms 77:13-15
God's way is holy, set apart from every other way, and no god is as great as He is. He works wonders and displays His strength among the peoples, and with power He redeemed His people. Jacob and Joseph together stand for the whole covenant family.
This site's exposition
You are the God who works wonders
Spurgeon set this God against the false gods, who only pretend to work wonders. Gill heard the Exodus behind the line, when the peoples saw the strength the LORD displayed for Israel. Verse 15 names that redemption.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
God, your way is in the holy place. Whoever, then, is not holy, the way of God is not in him. What is the way of God? "I am the way, and the life, and the truth." This the Savior says. The way of God, then, is the Son. But the way of God is only in the holy one. If we wish that Christ should dwell in us, let us be holy: for the way of God is in the holy one. What God is great like our God?
"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. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
In singing this psalm we must take shame to ourselves for all our sinful distrusts of God, and of his providence and promise, and give to him the glory of his power and goodness by a thankful commemoration of what he has done for us formerly and a cheerful dependence on him for the future.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou alone art Almighty. The false gods are surrounded with the pretence of wonders, but you really work them. It is thy peculiar prerogative to work marvels; it is no new or strange thing with thee, it is according to thy wont and use. Herein is renewed reason for holy confidence. It would be a great wonder if we did not trust the wonder working God. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Not only Israel, but Egypt, Bashan, Edom, Philistia, and all the nations have seen Jehovah's power.
Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou alone art Almighty. The false gods are surrounded with the pretence of wonders, but you really work them. It is thy peculiar prerogative to work marvels; it is no new or strange thing with thee, it is according to thy wont and use. Herein is renewed reason for holy confidence. It would be a great wonder if we did not trust the wonder working God. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Not only Israel, but Egypt, Bashan, Edom, Philistia, and all the nations have seen Jehovah's power. It was no secret in the olden time and to this day it is published abroad. God's providence and grace are both full of displays of his power; he is in the latter peculiarly conspicuous as "mighty to save." Who will not be strong in faith when there is so strong an arm to lean upon? Shall our trust be doubtful when his power is beyond all question? My soul see to it that these considerations banish thy mistrusts.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3548: “The Saint's Trials and the Divine Deliverances” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THIS Psalm describes the condition of a child of God under deep depression of spirit. He is much tried and bowed, and yet, at the same time, the saint at last gets the victory and, before the Psalm is over, the clouds are all removed from the sky and the heart rejoices in the sunlight of Divine Love. It is known to every Believer that the experience of a Christian is very variable. We are like our own strange weather in this land. South winds blow and all is warm and balmy, but in a few hours the north wind comes, or the cutting east wind—and soon the ground is covered with snow or hard white frost—and yet, perhaps, in another day or two there will be a storm! Some Believers have all spiritual weathers in a week. Being somewhat excitable, perhaps naturally, they readily take to themselves wings and mount aloft, but then as a high soar is often followed by a great fall, these very Believers are soon sighing and crying out of the very depths and half doubt whether they are the people of God at all! Nor must I say that is common to merely excitable people. Some of the very noblest heroes in the Christian army have had a very dark experience to go through. If you read the life of Martin Luther, of whom we may well say that never braver soldier fought beneath the banner of the Cross, you will find him the subject of the most terrible exercises. He was strong in his God, but he was very weak in himself—subject to ferocious temptations—temptations the like of which probably few of us have ever known because we are not men of his gigantic mold, and God does not allow trials to come upon us which were only suitable for him.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3548: “The Saint's Trials and the Divine Deliverances” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THIS Psalm describes the condition of a child of God under deep depression of spirit. He is much tried and bowed, and yet, at the same time, the saint at last gets the victory and, before the Psalm is over, the clouds are all removed from the sky and the heart rejoices in the sunlight of Divine Love. It is known to every Believer that the experience of a Christian is very variable. We are like our own strange weather in this land.
Thou - doest wonders - Every act of God, whether in nature or grace, in creation or providence, is wondrous; surpasses all power but his own; and can be comprehended only by his own wisdom. To the general observer, his strength is most apparent; to the investigator of nature, his wisdom; and to the genuine Christian, his mercy and love.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thou art the God that doest wonders - It is, it must be, the characteristic of God, the true God, to do wonderful things; things which are suited to produce amazement, and which we can little hope to be able to understand. Our judgment of God, therefore, should not be hasty and rash, but calm and deliberate. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people - Thou hast manifested thy greatness in thy dealings with the people. The word “people” here refers not especially to the Hebrew people, but to the nations - the people of the world at large. On a wide scale, and among all nations, God had done that which was suited to excite wonder, and which people were little qualified as yet to comprehend. No one can judge aright of what another has done unless he can take in the whole subject, and see it as he does who performs the act - unless he understands all the causes, the motives, the results near and remote - unless he sees the necessity of the act - unless he sees what would have been the consequences if it had not been done, for in that which is unknown to us, and which lies beyond the range of our vision, there may be full and sufficient reasons for what has been done, and an explanation may be found there which would remove all the difficulty.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Your way is in sanctity Your manner is to sanctify Your name in the world, to execute justice upon the wicked.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And I meditate over all Your works that You have already done for us.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַתָּ֣ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| הָ֭אֵל | hael | [are] the God | H410 → | 241 times |
| עֹ֣שֵׂה | ʾoseh | [who] does | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| פֶ֑לֶא | fele' | <of> wonder[s] | H6382 → | 13 times |
| הוֹדַ֖עְתָּ | hoda'ta | you have made known | H3045 → | 945 times |
| בָעַמִּ֣ים | vaamim | among the peoples | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| עֻזֶּֽךָ׃ | ʾuzekha | strength your | H5797 → | 92 times |
אַתָּ֣הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
הָ֭אֵל[are] the God
haelH410 →241 times
עֹ֣שֵׂה[who] does
ʾosehH6213 →2628 times
פֶ֑לֶא<of> wonder[s]
fele'H6382 →13 times
הוֹדַ֖עְתָּyou have made known
hoda'taH3045 →945 times
בָעַמִּ֣יםamong the peoples
vaamimH5971 →1873 times
עֻזֶּֽךָ׃strength your
ʾuzekhaH5797 →92 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 15:11Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
it leads to
- 1 Kings 8:23
and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with…
- Psalms 89:5–8
The heavens praise Your wonders, O LORD— Your faithfulness as well— in the assembly of the holy ones.
- 1 Samuel 2:2
There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.
- 2 Samuel 7:22
How great You are, O Lord GOD! For there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears.
- Revelation 4:8
And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty,…
- 1 Kings 8:23
Through
Isaiah 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the…
it leads to
- Psalms 74:13–14
You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
- Isaiah 52:1
Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter you.
- Psalms 89:10
You crushed Rahab like a carcass; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
- Psalms 74:13–14
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 77; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3548: “The Saint's Trials and the Divine Deliverances” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, Homily 10, on Psalm 76; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.