Psalms 81:11-16

11 But my people hearkened not to my voice, and Israel would none of me.

12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' stubbornness: they walked after their own counsels.

13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, that Israel had walked in my ways!

14 I would soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

15 The haters of Jehovah would have come cringing unto him; but their time would have been for ever.

16 And he would have fed them with the finest of wheat; yea, with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee.

Psalms 81:11-16 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]. Lit. 'the fat of wheat,' and so Ps. 147.14.