An exhortation to a solemn praising of God.

For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. By Asaph.

81:1 Sing aloud to God, our strength!
Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!

81:2 Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine,
the pleasant lyre with the harp.

81:3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.

God challenges that duty by reason of his benefits.

81:4 For it is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

81:5 He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony,
when he went out over the land of Egypt,
I heard a language that I didn’t know.

81:6 “I removed his shoulder from the burden.
His hands were freed from the basket.

81:7 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.

God, exhorting to obedience, complains of their disobedience, which proves their own hurt.

81:8 “Hear, my people, and I will testify to you,
Israel, if you would listen to me!

81:9 There shall be no strange god in you,
neither shall you worship any foreign god.

81:10 I am Yahweh, your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

81:11 But my people didn’t listen to my voice.
Israel desired none of me.

81:12 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts,
that they might walk in their own counsels.

81:13 Oh that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!

81:14 I would soon subdue their enemies,
and turn my hand against their adversaries.

81:15 The haters of Yahweh would cringe before him,
and their punishment would last forever.

81:16 But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat.
I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”