To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. Jeduthun was the name of the chief musician, to whom this psalm was inscribed and sent; see 1Ch 25:1, though Aben Ezra takes it to be the first word of some song, to the tune of which this was sung; and the Midrash interprets it of the subject of the psalm, which is followed by Jarchi, who explains it thus,"concerning the decrees and judgments which passed upon Israel;''that is, in the time of their present captivity, to which, as he, Kimchi, and Arama think, the whole psalm belongs.
Some interpreters refer it to the affliction of the Jews in Babylon, so Theodoret; or under Ahasuerus, or Antiochus; and others to the great and last distress of the church under antichrist; though it seems to express the particular case of the psalmist, and which is common to other saints.
Ver. 1. I cried unto God with my voice,.... Which is to be understood of prayer, and that vocal, and which is importunate and fervent, being made in distress; see Ps 3:4, or "my voice was unto God" , "and I cried"; it was directed to him, and expressed in a very loud and clamorous way:even unto God with my voice; or "my voice was unto God"; which is repeated to show that he prayed again and again, with great eagerness and earnestness, his case being a very afflicted one:and he gave ear unto me; his prayer was not without success; God is a God hearing and answering prayer, according to his promise, Ps 50:15.