Psalms 81
81
For the Feast of Harvest
For the Pure and Shining One
Asaph’s poetic song set to the melody of “For the Feast of Harvest”
1Lord, just singing about you makes me strong!
So I’ll keep shouting for joy to Jacob’s God, my champion.
2Let the celebration begin!
I will sing with drum accompaniment and with the sweet sound
of the harp and guitar strumming.
3Go ahead! Blow the jubilee trumpet to begin the feast!
Blow it before every joyous celebration and festival. # 81:3 Or “on the day of the new moon and the day of the full moon.”
4For God has given us these seasons of joy,
days that the God of Jacob decreed for us to celebrate and rejoice.
5He has given these feasts to remind us of his triumph over Egypt,
when he went out to wage war against them.
I heard the message in an unknown tongue as he said to me,
6“I have removed your backbreaking burdens
and have freed your hands from the hard labor and toil. # 81:6 Or “from holding the baskets,” which alludes to the Hebrews carrying basket loads of burdens for their Egyptian masters.
7You called out to me in your time of trouble, and I rescued you.
I came down from the realm of the secret place of thunder,
where mysteries hide.
I came down to save you.
I tested your hearts at the place where there was no water to drink,
the place of your bitter argument with me.” # 81:7 The Hebrew includes the word Meribah, which means “the place of strife and contention.”
Pause in his presence
8“Listen to me, my dear people.
For I’m warning you, and you’d better listen well!
For I hold something against you.
9Don’t ever be guilty of worshiping any other god but me.
10I am your only God, the living God.
Wasn’t I the one who broke the strongholds over you
and raised you up out of bondage?
Open your mouth with a mighty decree;
I will fulfill it now, you’ll see!
The words that you speak, so shall it be!
11But my people still wouldn’t listen;
my princely people would not yield to me.
12So I lifted my grace from off of their lives, and I surrendered them
to the stubbornness of their hearts.
For they were living according to their own selfish fantasies.
13O that my people would once and for all listen to me
and walk faithfully in my footsteps, following my ways.
14Then and only then will I conquer your every foe
and tell every one of them, ‘You must go!’
15Those who hate my ways will cringe before me
and their punishment will be eternal.
16But I will feed you with my spiritual bread.
You will feast and be satisfied with me,
feeding on my revelation-truth like honey
dripping from the cliffs of the high place.”
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Psalms 81: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationPsalms 81
81
An Admonition to Fidelity
1For the leader; “upon the gittith.”#Upon the gittith: probably the title of the melody to which the Psalm was to be sung or a musical instrument. Of Asaph.
I
2Sing joyfully to God our strength;#Ps 43:4; 68:26; 149:3; 150:3–4; Jdt 16:1.
raise loud shouts to the God of Jacob!
3Take up a melody, sound the timbrel,
the pleasant lyre with a harp.
4#New moon…full moon: the pilgrimage feast of harvest began with a great assembly (Lv 23:24; Nm 29:1), used the new moon as a sign (Nm 29:6), and included trumpets (Lv 23:24).Blow the shofar at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our solemn feast.#Lv 23:24; Nm 29:1.
5For this is a law for Israel,
an edict of the God of Jacob,#Ex 23:14ff.
6He made it a decree for Joseph
when he came out of the land of Egypt.
II
7#I heard a tongue I did not know: a Temple official speaks the word of God (Ps 81:5b–16), which is authoritative and unlike merely human words (cf. Nm 24:4, 16).I heard a tongue I did not know:
“I removed his shoulder from the burden;#I heard a tongue I did not know: a Temple official speaks the word of God (Ps 81:5b–16), which is authoritative and unlike merely human words (cf. Nm 24:4, 16).
his hands moved away from the basket.#I removed his shoulder from the burden: A reference to the liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt. The basket: for carrying clay to make bricks, cf. Ex 1:14.#Ex 1:14; 6:6.
8In distress you called and I rescued you;
I answered you in secret with thunder;
At the waters of Meribah#Meribah: place of rebellion in the wilderness; cf. Ex 17:7; Nm 20:13. I tested you:#Ps 95:8; Ex 2:23ff; 17:7; 19:16; Nm 20:13; 27:14. 9‘Listen, my people, I will testify against you
Selah
If only you will listen to me, Israel!#Ex 1:14; 6:6.
10There shall be no foreign god among you;#There shall be no foreign god among you: as in Ps 50 and 95, Israel is challenged to obey the first commandment of fidelity to God after the proclamation of the exodus.#Ex 20:2–6; Dt 5:6–10.
you shall not bow down to an alien god.
11‘I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth that I may fill it.’
12But my people did not listen to my words;
Israel would not submit to me.
13So I thrust them away to the hardness of their heart;
‘Let them walk in their own machinations.’#Jer 3:17; 7:24.
14O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways,#Is 48:18.
15In a moment I would humble their foes,
and turn back my hand against their oppressors.#Lv 26:7–8.
16Those who hate the Lord will try flattering him,
but their fate is fixed forever.
17But Israel I will feed with the finest wheat,
I will satisfy them with honey from the rock.”#Ps 147:14; Dt 32:13–14.
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