1 To the Overseer. -- `On the Gittith.' By Asaph. Cry aloud to God our strength, Shout to the God of Jacob.
2 Lift up a song, and give out a timbrel, A pleasant harp with psaltery.
3 Blow in the month a trumpet, In the new moon, at the day of our festival,
4 For a statute to Israel it `is', An ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 A testimony on Joseph He hath placed it, In his going forth over the land of Egypt. A lip, I have not known -- I hear.
6 From the burden his shoulder I turned aside, His hands from the basket pass over.
7 In distress thou hast called and I deliver thee, I answer thee in the secret place of thunder, I try thee by the waters of Meribah. Selah.
8 Hear, O My people, and I testify to thee, O Israel, if thou dost hearken to me:
9 There is not in thee a strange god, And thou bowest not thyself to a strange god.
10 I `am' Jehovah thy God, Who bringeth thee up out of the land of Egypt. Enlarge thy mouth, and I fill it.
11 But, My people hearkened not to My voice, And Israel hath not consented to Me.
12 And I send them away in the enmity of their heart, They walk in their own counsels.
13 O that My people were hearkening to Me, Israel in My ways would walk.
14 As a little thing their enemies I cause to bow, And against their adversaries I turn back My hand,
15 Those hating Jehovah feign obedience to Him, But their time is -- to the age.
16 He causeth him to eat of the fat of wheat, And `with' honey from a rock I satisfy thee!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 81
Commentary on Psalms 81 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 81
Ps 81:1-16. Gittith—(See on Ps 8:1, title). A festal Psalm, probably for the passover (compare Mt 26:30), in which, after an exhortation to praise God, He is introduced, reminding Israel of their obligations, chiding their neglect, and depicting the happy results of obedience.
1. our strength—(Ps 38:7).
2. unites the most joyful kinds of music, vocal and instrumental.
3. the new moon—or the month.
the time appointed—(Compare Pr 7:20).
5. a testimony—The feasts, especially the passover, attested God's relation to His people.
Joseph—for Israel (Ps 80:1).
went out through—or, "over," that is, Israel in the exodus.
I heard—change of person. The writer speaks for the nation.
language—literally, "lip" (Ps 14:1). An aggravation or element of their distress that their oppressors were foreigners (De 28:49).
6. God's language alludes to the burdensome slavery of the Israelites.
7. secret place—the cloud from which He troubled the Egyptians (Ex 14:24).
proved thee—(Ps 7:10; 17:3)—tested their faith by the miracle.
8. (Compare Ps 50:7). The reproof follows to Ps 81:12.
if thou wilt hearken—He then propounds the terms of His covenant: they should worship Him alone, who (Ps 81:10) had delivered them, and would still confer all needed blessings.
11, 12. They failed, and He gave them up to their own desires and hardness of heart (De 29:18; Pr 1:30; Ro 11:25).
13-16. Obedience would have secured all promised blessings and the subjection of foes. In this passage, "should have," "would have," &c., are better, "should" and "would" expressing God's intention at the time, that is, when they left Egypt.