Psalms 81:1-6

God's Goodness and Israel's Waywardness.

1 ¹Sing for joy to God our ²strength; Shout ³joyfully to the ⁴God of Jacob.

2 Raise a song, strike ⁵the timbrel, The sweet sounding ⁶lyre with the ⁷harp.

3 Blow the trumpet at the ⁸new moon, At the full moon, on our ⁹feast day.

4 For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5 He established it for a testimony in Joseph When he ¹⁰went throughout the land of Egypt. I heard a ¹¹language that I did not know:

6 "I ¹²relieved his shoulder of the burden, His hands were freed from the basket.

Psalms 81:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A [Psalm] of Asaph. Of "gittith," See Gill on "Ps 8:1." The Targum renders it, "upon the harp which came from Gath;" and so Jarchi says it was a musical instrument that came from Gath. The Septuagint, and the versions which follow that, render it, "for the winepresses." This psalm, according to Kimchi, is said concerning the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt; and was composed in order to be sung at their new moons and solemn feasts, which were typical of Gospel things in Gospel times; see Colossians 2:16 and so the Syriac version, "a psalm of Asaph, when David by him prepared himself for the solemnities."

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 51:14; Psalms 59:16; Psalms 95:1
• 2. Psalms 46:1
• 3. Psalms 66:1; Psalms 95:2; Psalms 98:4
• 4. Psalms 84:8
• 5. Exodus 15:20; Psalms 149:3
• 6. Psalms 92:3; Psalms 98:5; Psalms 147:7
• 7. Psalms 108:2; Psalms 144:9
• 8. Numbers 10:10
• 9. Leviticus 23:24
• 10. Exodus 11:4
• 11. Deuteronomy 28:49; Psalms 114:1; Jeremiah 5:15
• 12. Isaiah 9:4; Isaiah 10:27

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "went out over"
• [b]. Lit "removed his shoulder from"
• [c]. Or "brick load"