Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
God with his own arm redeemed his people Israel, named as the sons of Jacob and Joseph. That redeeming act was his leading of Israel out of Egypt and his deliverance of them at the Red Sea. The verses around it picture that Red Sea deliverance in waters, clouds, thunder, lightning and trembling earth, a storm that carried salvation to Israel and destruction to the Egyptians.
As a whole the psalm recounts the general history of Israel's doings, tracing their shifts from faith and obedience to rebellion and idolatry. In its Babylonian captivity setting it voices the distress of the Hebrew captives together with assurance of divine help and of eventual deliverance from their persecutors. Remembering God's mighty works in this way stands as a comfort.
God with his own arm redeemed his people Israel, named as the sons of Jacob and Joseph. That redeeming act was his leading of Israel out of Egypt and his deliverance of them at the Red Sea. The verses around it picture that Red Sea deliverance in waters, clouds, thunder, lightning and trembling earth, a storm that carried salvation to Israel and destruction to the Egyptians.
As a whole the psalm recounts the general history of Israel's doings, tracing their shifts from faith and obedience to rebellion and idolatry. In its Babylonian captivity setting it voices the distress of the Hebrew captives together with assurance of divine help and of eventual deliverance from their persecutors. Remembering God's mighty works in this way stands as a comfort.