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Psalm 77:17

The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around.

15You have redeemed your people with your arm, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
16The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed.
17The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around.
18The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.
19Your way was through the sea, your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.
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← Psalm 77:16Psalm 77:18 →
Notice

The storm’s flashing arrows portray God’s power in a scene of redemption, where the sound and force of his presence can unsettle as well as reassure.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What does calling the flashes God’s “arrows” add to your reading of this storm?

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How does the surrounding account of redemption shape your understanding of the thunder here?

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What response to God’s power would you want to put into words today?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

8 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Judges 5:4“LORD, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.Both passages describe clouds pouring water as part of a scene in which God acts with overwhelming power.
Psalm 18:14He sent out his arrows, and scattered them. He routed them with great lightning bolts.Both passages use God’s arrows as an image of flashing power, with Psalm 18 naming lightning and the scattering it brings.
2 Samuel 22:15He sent out arrows and scattered them, lightning and confused them.Both passages pair God’s arrows with flashes of light; Samuel names lightning and describes its scattering force.
Psalm 68:8–9The earth trembled. The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai— at the presence of God, the God of Israel.Both passages describe rain pouring from the sky within a scene of God’s presence and power.
Psalm 68:33to him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice.Psalm 77’s thunder and Psalm 68’s mighty voice from heaven portray God’s power through sound.
Psalm 144:6Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them.Both passages associate God’s arrows with lightning; Psalm 144 asks for the force that Psalm 77 describes.
Habakkuk 3:11The sun and moon stood still in the sky at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.Both passages picture God’s arrows flashing with light, using the language of weapons to describe his power.
Ezekiel 10:5The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.Psalm 77’s surrounding lines name thunder as God’s voice; Ezekiel compares the sound of cherubim’s wings to God Almighty speaking.
Where this verse fits

Praise and worship. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about worship →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 77:17–19 aloud, pausing at each sound

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Encouragement

God’s power here has a fearsome sound. In the surrounding verses, that same God has redeemed his people, and his way runs through the sea.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 77:17. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 77 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).