Psalms · Bible in Basic English
Psalm 81 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
1 To the chief music-maker; put to the Gittith. Of Asaph. Make a song to God our strength: make a glad cry to the God of Jacob.
1 For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. By Asaph. Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!
2 Take up the melody, playing on an instrument of music, even on corded instruments.
2 Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp.
3 Let the horn be sounded in the time of the new moon, at the full moon, on our holy feast-day:
3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For this is a rule for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
4 For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He gave it to Joseph as a witness, when he went out over the land of Egypt; then the words of a strange tongue were sounding in my ears.
5 He appointed it in Joseph for a covenant, when he went out over the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I didn’t know.
6 I took the weight from his back; his hands were made free from the baskets.
6 “I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket.
7 You gave a cry in your trouble, and I made you free; I gave you an answer in the secret place of the thunder; I put you to the test at the waters of Meribah. (Selah.)
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 Give ear, O my people, and I will give you my word, O Israel, if you will only do as I say!
8 “Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me!
9 There is to be no strange god among you; you are not to give worship to any other god.
9 There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God, who took you up from the land of Egypt: let your mouth be open wide, so that I may give you food.
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 did not give ear to my voice; Israel would have nothing to do with me.
11 But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.
12 So I gave them up to the desires of their hearts; that they might go after their evil purposes.
12 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.
13 If only my people would give ear to me, walking in my ways!
13 Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I would quickly overcome their haters: my hand would be turned against those who make war on them.
14 I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries.
15 The haters of the Lord would be broken, and their destruction would be eternal.
15 The haters of Yahweh would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.
16 I would give them the best grain for food; you would be full of honey from the rock.
16 But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”
Cross references (15)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Jeremiah 31:7; Psalm 66:1; Psalm 100:1–2; Philippians 4:13; Psalm 8:1
- 2 Psalm 149:1–3; Colossians 3:16; Psalm 92:3; Exodus 15:20; Ephesians 5:19
- 3 Leviticus 23:24–25; Numbers 15:3; 2 Chronicles 2:4; Numbers 10:1–10; Deuteronomy 16:15
- 5 Jeremiah 5:15; Deuteronomy 28:49; Psalm 114:1; 1 Corinthians 14:21–22; Isaiah 28:11
- 6 Isaiah 9:4; Isaiah 10:27; Exodus 6:6; Matthew 11:29; Exodus 1:14
- 7 Exodus 19:19; Numbers 20:13; Exodus 2:23; Psalm 50:15; Exodus 14:10
- 8 Psalm 50:7; Exodus 15:26; John 3:11; Isaiah 1:19; Isaiah 55:3–4
- 9 Isaiah 43:12; Deuteronomy 32:12; 1 Corinthians 8:5–6; Malachi 2:11; Deuteronomy 6:14
- 10 John 15:7; Exodus 20:2; Psalm 107:9; John 7:37; Revelation 21:6
- 11 Jeremiah 7:23–24; Deuteronomy 32:18; Jeremiah 2:11–13; Exodus 32:1; Zechariah 7:11
- 12 Jeremiah 7:24; Romans 1:24; Isaiah 30:1; Acts 7:42; 2 Thessalonians 2:9–11
- 13 Deuteronomy 5:29; Isaiah 48:18; Deuteronomy 10:12–13; Luke 19:41–42; Matthew 23:37
- 14 Judges 2:20–23; Amos 1:8; Joshua 23:13; Numbers 14:9; Psalm 47:3
- 15 Deuteronomy 7:10; Psalm 63:3; Romans 8:7; Romans 1:30; Joel 3:20
- 16 Deuteronomy 32:13–14; Psalm 147:14; 1 Samuel 14:25–26; Joel 2:24; Judges 14:18
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
If perchance things obscure demand the office of an interpreter, those things which are evident ought to require of me the office of a reader. The song here is of the Advent of the Lord and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His vineyard.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)