1 For the music director. On the gittith. A psalm of Asaph. Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob. 2 Start the song! Play the tambourine, sweet-sounding lyre, and harp. 3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, and at full moon, to begin our festivals, 4 for this is a rule for Israel, a regulation of the God of Jacob. 5 God made this statute for Joseph when he opposed the land of Egypt. I heard a voice I didn't know, saying: 6 “I took the load from your shoulders; I freed your hands from carrying heavy baskets. 7 In your suffering you cried out to me, and I saved you. I answered you from the thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah. 8 My people, listen to my warnings! Israel, please listen to me! 9 There must not be a strange god among you; you must never bow down to foreign gods and worship them. 10 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 11 But my people didn't listen to me. Israel didn't want anything to do with me. 12 So I sent them away to follow their stubborn thinking, living as they chose. 13 If only my people would listen to me; if only Israel would follow my ways! 14 It wouldn't take me long to conquer their enemies, to strike down their foes. 15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, forever doomed. 16 But I would feed you the best wheat and satisfy you with honey from the rock.”
Psalm 81 Free Bible Version
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.
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)