the arm (as stretched out) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
redeemed
גָּאַ֣לְתָּga.'Al.ta
H1350
to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relati… · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
people
עַמֶּ֑ךָ'a.Me.kha
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
sons
בְּנֵיbe.nei-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Jacob
יַעֲקֹ֖בya.'a.Ko
H3290
Jaakob · proper noun, a man's name
Joseph
וְיוֹסֵ֣ףve.yo.Sef
H3130
Joseph · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Selah
סֶֽלָהSe.lah
H5542
suspension (of music) · interjection
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 6:6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid y…
Deuteronomy 9:29 Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.
Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bar…
Deuteronomy 9:26 I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy g…
Psalms 74:2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherei…
Genesis 48:3-20 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
Psalms 136:11-12 And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 77:11–end
The psalmist here recovers himself out of the great distress and plague he was in, and silences his own fears of God's casting off his people by the remembrance of the great things he had done for them formerly, which though he had in vain tried to quiet himself with (Psa 77:5, Psa 77:6) yet he tried again, and, upon this second trial, found it not in vain. It is good to persevere in the proper means for the strengthening of faith, though they do not prove effectual at first: "I will remember, surely I will, what God has done for his people of old, till I can thence infer a happy issue of the present dark dispensation," Psa 77:11, Psa 77:12. Note, 1. The works of the Lord, for his people, ha…
Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,.... The people of Israel out of Egypt, which was typical of the redemption of the Lord's people by Christ, the arm and power of God:
the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Joseph is particularly mentioned for honour's sake, and because he was the means of supporting Jacob and his family in Egypt; and had special faith in their deliverance from thence; the Targum is,
"the sons whom Jacob begot, and Joseph nourished.''
Selah. See Gill on Psalm 3:2.
John Calvin on Psalms 77:15–end
Psalm 77:15-20
15. Thou hast redeemed thy people by thy arm, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. 16. The waters saw thee, O God! the waters saw thee; they were afraid, yea even the deeps trembled. 17. The clouds poured out waters, the heavens [or skies] sent forth a sound: thy arrows also went abroad. 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven; the lightnings illumined the world: the earth trembled and shook. 19. Thy ways are in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters: and thy footsteps are not known. 20. Thou didst lead thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
15. Thou hast redeemed thy people by thy arm. The Psalmist here celebrates, above all the other wonderful w…
You have made known your power among the peoples. "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God": "the mystery which had been hidden from the ages"; now you have made known your power among the peoples. You have redeemed with your arm your people. "Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" You have redeemed with your arm your people: that is, in Christ. The sons of Jacob and of Joseph. Both peoples, both of the Jews and of the Christians: Jacob, in the people of the Jews, and Joseph, in the people of the Gentiles. Indeed, Joseph is interpreted in the Hebrew tongue as "increase." Those, then, went before, and we have been joined on: therefore it is said "the sons of Jacob and of Joseph."
"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.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Arm — Used to denote power (Ps. 10:15; Ezek. 30:21; Jer. 48:25). It is also used of the omnipotence of God (Ex. 15:16; Ps. 89:13; 98:1; 77:15; Isa. 53:1; John 12:38; Acts 13:17)
Arm · FIGURATIVE USE OF — FIGURATIVE USE OF
Readings, Select · THE MAJESTY OF GOD — THE MAJESTY OF GOD
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Psalms 77:10-15
With ואמר the poet introduces the self-encouragement with which he has hitherto calmed himself when such questions of temptation were wont to intrude themselves upon him, and with which he still soothes himself. In the rendering of הלּותי (with the tone regularly drawn back before the following monosyllable) even the Targum wavers between מרעוּתי (my affliction) and בּעוּתי (my supplication); and just in the same way, in the rendering of Psa 77:11, between אשׁתּניו (have changed) and שׁנין (years). שׁנות cannot possibly signify "change" in an active sense, as Luther renders: "The right hand of the Most High can change everything," but only a having become different (lxx and the Quinta ἀλλοι…
This central section of the poem reflects on God as the holy and powerful redeemer.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 77:15
Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. All Israel, the two tribes of Joseph as well as those which sprang from the other sons of Jacob, were brought out of Egypt by a display of divine power, which is here ascribed not to the hand but to the arm of the Lord, because it was the fulness of his might. Ancient believers were in the constant habit of referring to the wonders of the Red Sea, and we also can unite with them, taking care to add the song of the Lamb to that of Moses, the servant of God. The comfort derivable from such a meditation is obvious and abundant, for he wh…
