A psalm written by Asaph for Jeduthun, the choir director

1I cry out to God;
I cry aloud to him, and he hears me.

2Whenever have trouble, I pray to the Lord; all during the night I lift up my hands while I pray,
but nothing causes me to be comforted.

3When I think about God, I ◄despair/think that he will never help me►;
when I meditate about him, I am discouraged. (Think about that!)

4All during the night he prevents me from sleeping; I am very worried, with the result that I do not know what to say.

5I think about days that have passed; I remember what happened in previous years.

6I spend the whole night thinking about things; I meditate, and this is what I ask myself:

7“Will the Lord always reject us? Will he never again be pleased with us?

8Has he stopped faithfully loving us?
Will he not do for us what he promised to do?

9God promised to be merciful to us; has he forgotten that? Because he is angry with us, has he decided to not be kind to us?” (Think about that!)

10Then I said, “What causes me to be very sad is that
it seems that God, who is greater than any other god, is no longer powerful.”

11But then, Yahweh, I recall/remember your great deeds; I remember the wonderful things that you did in the past.

12I meditate on all that you have done,
and I think about your mighty acts.

13God, everything that you do is holy; there is certainly no god [RHQ] who is great like you are!

14You are God, the one who performs miracles; you showed to people of many people-groups that you are powerful.

15By your power [MTY] you rescued your people from Egypt; you saved those who were descendants of Jacob and his son Joseph. (Think about that!)

16It was as though the waters of the Red Sea saw you and became very afraid, and even the deepest part of the water shook.

17Rain poured down from the clouds [PRS]; it thundered very loudly [PRS],
and lightning flashed in all directions.

18Thunder crashed in the whirlwind, and lightning ◄lit up/flashed across► the entire sky [HYP]; the earth shook violently [DOU].

19Then you walked through the sea on a path that you made through the deep water,
but your footprints could not be seen.

20You led your people like a shepherd leads his flock of sheep, while Moses and Aaron were the leaders of your people.