Psalms 81

Sing out loud to God, who is our strength. Shout for joy to the God of Jacob.

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

Note"The God of Jacob" identifies God by his connection to Jacob, the ancestor from whom the twelve tribes descended and who was also called Israel. Using the ancestor's name is a way of naming the whole nation's God.

2Start the song. Bring the hand drum here, along with the sweet-sounding harp and the lyre.

2Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

NoteThese are the instruments of Israelite worship: a small hand-held frame drum (the King James "timbrel"), and two related stringed instruments whose exact difference is uncertain, the King James calls them "harp" and "psaltery." Neither resembles a modern concert harp; both were small, portable, and plucked.

3Blow the ram's horn when the new moon comes, and again when the moon is full, on the day of our feast.

3Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

NoteThe horn is a shofar, a ram's horn blown as a signal, not a musical instrument in the modern sense. Israel's calendar followed the moon: the new moon opened each month and was marked by horn blasts, and the great festivals fell at full moon, in the middle of the month. The King James "in the time appointed" translates a word that most likely means the full moon.

4This is a rule for Israel, a law given by the God of Jacob.

4For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.

Note"Statute" and "law" here refer to the festival itself, the command to keep the feast, not to law in general.

5He set it up as a reminder for Joseph when he went out across the land of Egypt, where I heard a language I did not know.

5This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

NoteJoseph was one of Jacob's sons, and two of the tribes descended from him; his name is used here for the nation as a whole. "When he went out across the land of Egypt" is genuinely unclear in the Hebrew: it may mean when Israel marched out of Egypt at the exodus, or when God went out through Egypt in judgment on the night of the Passover. The last line switches to a new speaker, either the psalmist or Israel recalling the strangeness of the Egyptian language.

6God says: "I took the heavy load off his shoulder. I freed his hands from the carrying basket.

6I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.

NoteEgyptian wall paintings show forced laborers carrying loads in baskets slung from the shoulders. The Hebrew word can mean a basket for carrying clay or bricks; the King James read it as "pots." Both readings point to the same thing, the brick-making labor Israel was forced into in Egypt.

7You called out to me when you were in trouble, and I rescued you. I answered you from inside the thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

7Thou 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.

Note"The secret place of thunder" is literally the hiding place or covering of thunder, the storm cloud from which God spoke. Meribah, whose name means "quarrelling," is where Israel complained about the lack of water in the wilderness and God gave water from a rock (Exodus 17 and Numbers 20). "Selah" is a term found throughout the Psalms whose meaning is unknown; it is usually taken as a musical or liturgical direction, perhaps a pause or a swell.

8Listen, my people, and I will warn you. Israel, if only you would listen to me.

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

9There must be no foreign god among you. You must not bow down to any god that is not your own.

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

Note"Strange" in the King James means foreign or belonging to someone else, not odd. The wording closely echoes the opening of the Ten Commandments.

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

10I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

NoteThe image is of a bird opening its beak to be fed, or of a person opening their mouth for food, a picture of complete dependence and of God's readiness to supply.

11But my people would not listen to my voice. Israel wanted nothing to do with me.

11But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

12So I let them go their own way, following their stubborn hearts. They lived by their own plans.

12So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

NoteThe Hebrew says God let them go in the stubbornness of their own heart. "Lust" in the King James means simply desire or craving, not specifically sexual desire.

13How I wish my people would listen to me, and that Israel would walk in my ways.

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

14Then I would quickly beat down their enemies and turn my hand against those who fight them.

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

15Those who hate the LORD would cower before him, and their time would last forever.

15The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.

NoteThe verb translated "submitted themselves" or "cower" means to cringe or shrink back, and often carries the sense of an insincere or forced submission. The second half is ambiguous in the Hebrew: "their time" may be the enemies' doom lasting forever, or, if the pronoun refers back to Israel, Israel's good fortune lasting forever.

16But you I would feed with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with honey out of the rock."

16He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

Note"The finest of the wheat" is literally the fat of the wheat, fat being the richest and most valuable part of an animal. Wild bees nested in clefts of rock, so honey from stone was a proverbial image of rich food coming from the most unpromising place. The verse also shifts from "them" to "you," addressing the people directly.