1 > Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, The pleasant lyre with the harp.
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, I heard a language that I didn't know.
6 "I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket.
7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah." Selah.
8 "Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god in you, Neither shall you worship any foreign god.
10 I am Yahweh, your God, Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 But my people didn't listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.
12 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, That they might walk in their own counsels.
13 Oh that my people would listen to 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 Yahweh would cringe before him, And their punishment would last forever.
16 But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock."
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 81
Commentary on Psalms 81 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 81
Ps 81:1-16. Gittith—(See on Ps 8:1, title). A festal Psalm, probably for the passover (compare Mt 26:30), in which, after an exhortation to praise God, He is introduced, reminding Israel of their obligations, chiding their neglect, and depicting the happy results of obedience.
1. our strength—(Ps 38:7).
2. unites the most joyful kinds of music, vocal and instrumental.
3. the new moon—or the month.
the time appointed—(Compare Pr 7:20).
5. a testimony—The feasts, especially the passover, attested God's relation to His people.
Joseph—for Israel (Ps 80:1).
went out through—or, "over," that is, Israel in the exodus.
I heard—change of person. The writer speaks for the nation.
language—literally, "lip" (Ps 14:1). An aggravation or element of their distress that their oppressors were foreigners (De 28:49).
6. God's language alludes to the burdensome slavery of the Israelites.
7. secret place—the cloud from which He troubled the Egyptians (Ex 14:24).
proved thee—(Ps 7:10; 17:3)—tested their faith by the miracle.
8. (Compare Ps 50:7). The reproof follows to Ps 81:12.
if thou wilt hearken—He then propounds the terms of His covenant: they should worship Him alone, who (Ps 81:10) had delivered them, and would still confer all needed blessings.
11, 12. They failed, and He gave them up to their own desires and hardness of heart (De 29:18; Pr 1:30; Ro 11:25).
13-16. Obedience would have secured all promised blessings and the subjection of foes. In this passage, "should have," "would have," &c., are better, "should" and "would" expressing God's intention at the time, that is, when they left Egypt.