Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 77:7 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 7. 7Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 77:7: Inside “Nightlong lament remembers the exodus: Night prayer and questions about rejected mercy,” “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be…” raises a real poetic question instead of supplying a detached answer.
Read It With
- Psalms 77:1–9
- Psalms 77:1–20
Read Psalms 77:7 with 77:1–9 and 77:1–20. Read alone, “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable…” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 77:1–9, the individual voice carries the movement “Night prayer and questions about rejected mercy” as part of “Nightlong lament remembers the exodus.” Its lament-hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 77:1–9 opens Psalm 77 with “I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto…” and establishes the individual voice and “Night prayer and questions about rejected mercy” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 77:7 poses the poem's question through “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more” and leaves the surrounding lines to answer, intensify, or hold it open.
Follow the Context
- Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 77:1–9; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 77:1–9, the individual voice carries the movement “Night prayer and questions about rejected mercy” as part of “Nightlong lament remembers the exodus.” Its lament-hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- This reading does not authorize the following misuse: Memory becomes a way to address divine silence, not proof that a distressed person should recover by recalling facts alone.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 77:7 does not allow “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable…” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse poses the poem's question through “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more” and leaves the surrounding lines to answer, intensify, or hold it open. The complete movement is “Night prayer and questions about rejected mercy.” This reading does not authorize the following misuse: Memory becomes a way to address divine silence, not proof that a distressed person should recover by recalling facts alone.
What Remains True
Read “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable…” as part of the individual voice in “Nightlong lament remembers the exodus: Night prayer and questions about rejected mercy.” Biblical faith can speak unresolved pain directly, remain in relationship, seek safe help, and refuse the claim that anguish proves guilt or failed faith. The local movement is “Night prayer and questions about rejected mercy.” The unit's reviewed limit is: Memory becomes a way to address divine silence, not proof that a distressed person should recover by recalling facts alone.
How It Can Shape Life
- Keep the movement “Nightlong lament remembers the exodus: Night prayer and questions about rejected mercy” in view. Make room for the emotion in “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable…”, ask what safety and companionship require now, and resist a neat answer the psalm itself does not give. The textual reason is this verse's role: Psalm 77:7 poses the poem's question through “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more” and leaves the surrounding lines to answer, intensify, or hold it open.
Teach It Back
Retell Psalm 77:7 as one step in Book III. Name the movement “Night prayer and questions about rejected mercy,” explain “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable…,” keep Jewish meaning and any later reception distinguishable, give one fitting response, and reject this overreach: This reading does not authorize the following misuse: Memory becomes a way to address divine silence, not proof that a distressed person should recover by recalling facts alone.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 77:1–9 — Nightlong lament remembers the exodus: Night prayer and questions about rejected mercySources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 77:1–9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 77:1–9
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 77:1–9.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 77 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 77:1–9
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 77:1–9
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 77 for Psalms 77:1–9
Open NETS Psalms ↗public health communication guidance
Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023
World Health Organization
World Health Organization, 2023
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying despair, isolation, death wishes, and severe loss; not exegesis.
Exact location: WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii and dos and don'ts pp. 11–16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Psalms 77:1–9
Open the WHO communication guide ↗