Psalms 81:2-12

2 Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, The pleasant lyre with the harp.

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, I heard a language that I didn't know.

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

7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah." Selah.

8 "Hear, my people, and I will testify to you. Israel, if you would listen to me!

9 There shall be no strange god in you, Neither shall you worship any foreign god.

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

11 But my people didn't listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.

12 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, That they might walk in their own counsels.

Psalms 81:2-12 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."