Psalms 81:2-12

2 Anthems from the choir, music from the band, sweet sounds from lute and harp,

3 Trumpets and trombones and horns: it's festival day, a feast to God!

4 A day decreed by God, solemnly ordered by the God of Jacob.

5 He commanded Joseph to keep this day so we'd never forget what he did in Egypt. I hear this most gentle whisper from One I never guessed would speak to me:

6 "I took the world off your shoulders, freed you from a life of hard labor.

7 You called to me in your pain; I got you out of a bad place. I answered you from where the thunder hides, I proved you at Meribah Fountain.

8 "Listen, dear ones - get this straight; O Israel, don't take this lightly.

9 Don't take up with strange gods, don't worship the latest in gods.

10 I'm God, your God, the very God who rescued you from doom in Egypt, Then fed you all you could eat, filled your hungry stomachs.

11 "But my people didn't listen, Israel paid no attention;

12 So I let go of the reins and told them, 'Run! Do it your own way!'

Psalms 81:2-12 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."