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Psalm 77 · a question people ask

What does "I will appeal to this" (77:10) mean?

In the text

The WEB has "Then I thought" (77:10), and then, "I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High" (77:10). I will appeal is challoti. Brown-Driver-Briggs has two entries for these letters: one "be weak, sick", the other "mollify, appease, entreat the favour of". The Strong's-tagged Hebrew text links challoti in this verse to the first, and the WEB has appeal. These notes don't choose between them. What the verses around it make plain is where the psalmist turns. The years is the word of "the years of ancient times" (77:5), and the next verse says what he means to remember: "I will remember the LORD’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old" (77:11).

The verses

“I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.”
Psalm 77:5 · World English Bible
“Then I thought, “I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High.” I will remember the LORD’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old.”
Psalm 77:10-11 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 77

Psalm 77: Your way through the sea

Psalm 77's "I complain" (77:3) and "consider" (77:12) are one Hebrew word: the same word is his complaint and then his considering of God's doings. His questions (77:8-9) ask in the Hebrew words and roots of Exodus 34:6's "merciful and gracious God, slow to anger" (Exodus 34:6). And from 77:13 on, the psalm speaks in the Hebrew words of the song at the sea (Exodus 15).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions