# Psalm 81 📖: A Call to Listen [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Psalm Overview]] | [[Psalm 80]] | [[Psalm 82]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) #### For the music director, according to the _gittith_ style; by Asaph. [[#Verse 01.]] Shout for joy to God, our source of strength! Shout out to the God of Jacob! [[#Verse 02.]] Sing a song and play the tambourine, the pleasant-sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument. [[#Verse 03.]] Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon, and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins. [[#Verse 04.]] For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel; it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob. [[#Verse 05.]] He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph, when he attacked the land of Egypt. I heard a voice I did not recognize. [[#Verse 06.]] It said: “I removed the burden from his shoulder; his hands were released from holding the basket. [[#Verse 07.]] In your distress you called out and I rescued you. I answered you from a dark thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. (Selah) [[#Verse 08.]] I said, ‘Listen, my people! I will warn you. O Israel, if only you would obey me! [[#Verse 09.]] There must be no other god among you. You must not worship a foreign god. [[#Verse 10.]] I am the Lord, your God, the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.’ [[#Verse 11.]] But my people did not obey me; Israel did not submit to me. [[#Verse 12.]] I gave them over to their stubborn desires; they did what seemed right to them. [[#Verse 13.]] If only my people would obey me! If only Israel would keep my commands! [[#Verse 14.]] Then I would quickly subdue their enemies, and attack their adversaries.” [[#Verse 15.]] (May those who hate the Lord cower in fear before him. May they be permanently humiliated.) [[#Verse 16.]] “I would feed Israel the best wheat, and would satisfy your appetite with honey from the rocky cliffs.” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Psalm 81 is a psalm of Asaph "according to the gittith," possibly an instrument or tune connected to Gath or to winepresses. 2. The psalm calls for blowing the ram's horn (*shofar*) at the new moon and full moon (81:3). 3. Many connect it with the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Shelters, which both fall in the seventh month (Leviticus 23:24, 34). 4. In the Mishnah (Tamid 7:4), Psalm 81 was the psalm sung by the Levites in the temple every Thursday. 5. Israel is called "Joseph" in 81:5, one of the few places this name is used for the whole nation. 6. The "burden" and "basket" of 81:6 recall the brick-making slavery of Egypt (Exodus 1:14). 7. Meribah (81:7) means "quarreling" and recalls Israel testing God over water (Exodus 17:7). 8. Verse 9 echoes the first commandment: no strange god among you (Exodus 20:3). 9. The second half of the psalm is God speaking directly in the first person. 10. "Honey from the rock" (81:16) echoes the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:13. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who satisfies those who listen to Him. God promised to fill His people's mouths and feed them with honey from the rock (81:10, 16), and Jesus offers living water to all who come to Him (John 7:37-38). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God reminds Israel that He lifted the burden from their shoulders (81:6). What burdens has God lifted from you? 2. God says, "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it" (81:10). What would it look like to come to God expecting Him to provide? 3. God laments, "If only My people would listen" (81:13). What keeps us from listening to God? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 1: Shout for joy to God our strength. - 📖 verse 10: God brought His people out of Egypt and invites them to open wide so He can fill them. - 📖 verse 16: God longs to feed His people with the finest wheat and honey from the rock. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Exodus 17#Verse 01.|Exodus 17:1-7]] - Water from the rock at Meribah. - 🔗 [[Deuteronomy 32#Verse 13.|Deuteronomy 32:13]] - He nursed them with honey from the rock. - 🔗 [[Leviticus 23#Verse 23.|Leviticus 23:23-25]] - The Feast of Trumpets. - 🔗 [[Isaiah 48#Verse 18.|Isaiah 48:18]] - If only you had paid attention to My commands. - 🔗 [[John 07#Verse 37.|John 7:37-38]] - If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Psalm 81- SOAP|Smell the Roses on the Long Journey]] ## 📂 Internal Notes