Psalms 81:6-16

6 “I lifted the burden off your shoulders; your hands are free of the brick basket!

7 In distress you cried out, so I rescued you. I answered you in the secret of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8 Listen, my people, I'm warning you! If only you would listen to me, Israel.

9 There must be no foreign god among you. You must not bow down to any strange deity.

10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up from Egypt's land. Open your mouth wide—I will fill it up!

11 But my people wouldn't listen to my voice. Israel simply wasn't agreeable toward me.

12 So I sent them off to follow their willful hearts; they followed their own advice.

13 How I wish my people would listen to me! How I wish Israel would walk in my ways!

14 Then I would subdue their enemies in a second; I would turn my hand against their foes.

15 Those who hate the LORD would grovel before me, and their doom would last forever!

16 But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”

Psalms 81:6-16 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."