Psalm 81:6

6 “I ¹relieved your^[a] shoulder of ²the burden; your hands were freed from the basket.

Psalm 81:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 81:6

I removed his shoulder from the burden
These are the words of God, declaring how he had delivered the Israelites from the oppression and cruelty of the Egyptians; who made their lives bitter in hard bondage, and obliged them to carry heavy loads of bricks upon their shoulders:

his hands were delivered from the pots,
or "baskets" ^F3; into which the bricks were put when made, and carried on their shoulders; or from making of pots, as Kimchi, who thinks the Israelites were employed in making pots of clay as well as bricks; see ( Psalms 68:13 ) , the Targum is,

``his hands withdrew themselves from casting clay into the pots:''

the whole is typical of the saints' deliverance by Christ from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F3 (dwdm) "a sporta, a cophino", Gejerus, Amama, Michaelis.

Psalm 81:6 In-Context

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

5 He made it a decree in Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a language I had not known:

6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket.

7 In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

Cross References

• 1. 81:6 Isa. 9:4; 10:27
• 2. 81:6 Ex. 1:11

Footnotes

• [a] 81:6 Hebrew 'his'; also next line