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Psalms 81

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Call to Joyful Worship 1–5

1
Sing aloud unto God our strength: Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. ​
2
Raise a song, and bring hither the timbrel, The pleasant harp with the psaltery.
3
Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast-day. ​
4
For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5
He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony, When he went out over the land of Egypt, Where I heard a language that I knew not. ​

God Recalls the Exodus Deliverance 6–7

6
I removed his shoulder from the burden: His hands were freed from the basket. ​
7
Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. [Selah ​

The Divine Command: Listen and Obey 8–10

8
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken unto me! ​
9
There shall no strange god be in thee; Neither shalt thou worship any foreign god.
10
I am Jehovah thy God, Who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt: Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. ​

Consequences of Disobedience and Missed Blessings 11–16

11
But my people hearkened not to my voice; And Israel would none of me.
12
So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, That they might walk in their own counsels. ​
13
Oh that my people would hearken unto me, That Israel would walk in my ways! ​
14
I would soon subdue their enemies, And turn my hand against their adversaries.
15
The haters of Jehovah should submit themselves unto him: But their time should endure for ever.
16
He would feed them also with the finest of the wheat; And with honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalms 81

Verse 1

upon Gittith — Gittith stands in only three psalm titles, Ps 8:1, 81:1 and 84:1; the site's Strong's gives it as a Gittite harp. 'Strength' is oz, the word of Ex 15:2, 'The LORD is my strength and song'. 'Make a joyful noise' (ruwa) is the verb of Ps 66:1 and Ps 100:1, a shout raised to God.

Verse 3

the new moon — Trumpets sounded 'in the beginnings of your months' (Num 10:10), and the first day of the seventh month was 'a memorial of blowing of trumpets' (Lev 23:24). 'Time appointed' is keçe, the full moon, found only here and in Prov 7:20 ('the day appointed'); the feast of tabernacles fell on the fifteenth of that month (Lev 23:34). 'Trumpet' is shophar.

Verse 5

ordained in Joseph — Yehoseph, a fuller spelling of Joseph found only here, stands for Israel, as in Ps 80:1, 'thou that leadest Joseph like a flock'. 'Testimony' (edut) is the word for the law kept in the ark: 'the testimony which I shall give thee' (Ex 25:16). The 'language' unknown in Egypt is described in Ps 114:1, 'a people of strange language'.

Verse 6

his hands were delivered from the pots — The LORD speaks. 'Burden' (sebel) and 'pots' (dud, a basket or cooking vessel) name the labour of Ex 1:14, 'hard bondage, in morter, and in brick'. The release is Ex 6:6: 'I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.' 'Removed' (sur) is to turn aside.

Verse 7

the secret place of thunder — The answer came at Sinai: 'thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount' (Ex 19:16), where 'God answered him by a voice' (Ex 19:19). 'Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee' is the pattern of Ps 50:15. 'Proved' (bachan) is tested; Meribah is where the people 'strove with the LORD' (Num 20:13).

Verse 8

Hear, O my people — 'Hear' and 'hearken' are one verb, shama, to hear with obedience, the opening word of 'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD' (Deut 6:4). Ps 50:7 opens in nearly the same words: 'Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee.'

Verse 10

open thy mouth wide — The verse sets the LORD's name and deed first: 'I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt' (cf. Ex 20:2). Rachab is to make wide; the mouth opened is a mouth waiting to be filled, and male is to fill. Ps 107:9 says it of him: he 'filleth the hungry soul with goodness'.

Verse 12

gave them up — Shalach, to send away; the people are let go to 'their own hearts' lust' (sherirut, stubbornness of heart), the word of Jer 7:24, 'walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart'. The same action is stated in Acts 7:42, 'God turned, and gave them up', and Rom 1:24.

Verse 13

Oh that my people had hearkened — Lu, a particle of wish: 'Oh that'. It begins Isa 48:18, 'O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river'. 'Walked in my ways' (halak, derek) is the way of the commandments (cf. Deut 10:12). Luke 19:42 has a like regret: 'If thou hadst known… the things which belong unto thy peace!'

Verse 16

honey out of the rock — The figure is Israel's blessing in the land: 'he made him to suck honey out of the rock' (Deut 32:13). 'The finest of the wheat' is literally the fat of wheat (cheleb), as in Ps 147:14, 'filleth thee with the finest of the wheat'. The verse says what he would have given had the people hearkened (v.13).