Psalms 77:16

“The waters saw thee, O God, etc.] The waters not of Jordan, but of the Red sea; these felt and perceived the power of God, in causing a strong east wind, which dried it up, and made way for the children of Israel to pass through it as on dry land: compare with this (<19B403>Psalm 114:3 <350310> Habakkuk 3:10), the waters saw thee; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to excite attention to it, as well as to express the psalmist’s admiration at it; the Targum is, “they saw thy majesty in the midst of the sea, O God; they saw thy power upon the sea;” not the Egyptians, but the sons of Jacob and Joseph; the old Syriac church understood these waters of the waters of Jordan, at the…”

“The waters saw thee ... - The waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan. There is great sublimity in this expression; in representing the waters as conscious of the presence of God, and as fleeing in consternation at his presence. Compare Revelation 20:11; Habakkuk 3:10-11. They were afraid - On the word used here - חול chûl - see Psalms 10:5, note; Psalms 55:4, note. It may mean here to tremble or quake, as in pain Deuteronomy 2:25; Joel 2:6. - Alarm, distress, anguish, came over the waters at the presence of God; and they trembled, and fled. The depths also were troubled - The deep waters, or the waters “in” the depths. It was not a ripple on the surface; but the very depths - the usually calm…”

“Afraid - And stood still, as men astonished, do. Psalms 77:17”

“77:16 the Red Sea: The Canaanites attributed divine power to the sea, but God is the one who made the sea and uses it for his own purposes.”

“Psa 114:3-6; Exo 14:21; Jos 3:15, Jos 3:16; Hab 3:8-10, Hab 3:15 Psalms 77:17”

“When He directed His lance towards the Red Sea, which stood in the way of His redeemed, the waters immediately fell as it were into pangs of travail (יחילוּ, as in Hab 3:10, not ויּחילו), also the billows of the deep trembled; for before the omnipotence of God the Redeemer, which creates a new thing in the midst of the old creation, the rules of the ordinary course of nature become unhinged. There now follow in Psa 77:18, Psa 77:19 lines taken from the picture of a thunder-storm. The poet wishes to describe how all the powers of nature became the servants of the majestic revelation of Jahve, when He executed judgment on Egypt and delivered Israel. זרם, Poel of זרם (cognate זרב, זרף,…”