Psalms 81:8-16

8 Listen, My people, and I will admonish you. Israel, if you would only listen to Me!

9 There must not be a strange god among you; you must not bow down to a foreign god.^[a]

10 I am Yahweh your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 "But My people did not listen to Me; Israel did not obey Me.

12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own plans.^[b]

13 If only My people would listen to Me and Israel would follow My ways,^[c]

14 I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes."

15 Those who hate the Lord would pretend submission to Him;^[d] their doom would last forever.

16 But He would feed Israel^[e] with the best wheat. "I would satisfy you with honey from the rock."

Psalms 81:8-16 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."

Footnotes

• [a]. Ex 20:3-5; 22:20; 34:14
• [b]. Jr 7:24; 11:8; 13:10
• [c]. Isa 42:24
• [d]. Ps 18:44; 66:3
• [e]. Lit him
• [f]. Ps 147:14; Nm 18:12; Dt 32:13-14