Psalms 81:1-9

1 Sing aloud unto God our strength: Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

2 Raise a song, and bring hither the timbrel, The pleasant harp with the psaltery.

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

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

5 He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony, When he went out over the land of Egypt, [Where] I heard a language that I knew not.

6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: His hands were freed from the basket.

7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. [Selah

8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken unto me!

9 There shall no strange god be in thee; Neither shalt thou worship any foreign god.

Psalms 81:1-9 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."