Psalms 81:1-11

1 For the Leader. On the gittit. By Asaf: Sing for joy to God our strength! Shout to the God of Ya'akov!

2 Start the music! Beat the drum! Play the sweet lyre and the lute!

3 Sound the shofar at Rosh-Hodesh and at full moon for the pilgrim feast,

4 because this is a law for Isra'el, a ruling of the God of Ya'akov.

5 He placed it as a testimony in Y'hosef when he went out against the land of Egypt. I heard an unfamiliar voice say,

6 "I lifted the load from his shoulder; his hands were freed from the [laborer's] basket.

7 You called out when you were in trouble, and I rescued you; I answered you from the thundercloud; I tested you at the M'rivah Spring [by saying,] (Selah)

8 "'Hear, my people, while I give you warning! Isra'el, if you would only listen to me!

9 There is not to be with you any foreign god; you are not to worship an alien god.

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

11 "But my people did not listen to my voice; Isra'el would have none of me.

Psalms 81:1-11 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."