1 To the chief Musician upon Gittith, [A Psalm] of Asaph. Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. 2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. 3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. 4 For this [was] a statute for Israel, [and] a law of the God of Jacob. 5 This 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. 6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. 7 Thou 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. 8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; 9 There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. 10 I [am] the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. 12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: [and] they walked in their own counsels. 13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, [and] Israel had walked in my ways! 14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. 15 The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. 16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
Psalms · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Psalm 81 King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (2)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
- Psalm titles are printed as the start of verse 1.
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)