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Psalm 81:4-6
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 81:4-6
New Catholic Bible
4 Sound the trumpet at the new moon,
and also at the full moon on the day of our Feast.[a]
5 For this is a law in Israel,
a decree of the God of Jacob.
6 He imposed this testimony on Joseph[b]
when he departed from the land of Egypt.
I now hear an unfamiliar voice:
Footnotes
- Psalm 81:4 The first day of the lunar month (new moon) was for a long time celebrated as a feast (see 2 Ki 4:23; Isa 1:13; Hos 2:11; Am 8:5). Here it is a question of the beginning of the seventh month, long considered as the new year (see Lev 23:24; Num 29:1); on the following full moon (on the fifteenth of the month), the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated (see Lev 23:34; Num 29:12), five days after the Day of Atonement (see Lev 16:29). It concluded the cycle of feasts that began with the Passover and Unleavened Bread six months before (see Ex 23:14-17; Lev 23; Deut 16:13-15). Every seventh year the covenant law was to be read to all the people (see Deut 31:9-13; Neh 8:2-15).
The purpose of the Feast of Tabernacles was to proclaim aloud the mighty deeds of the Lord in the history of salvation. During the feast, the assembly recalled God’s wondrous works in Egypt. - Psalm 81:6 Joseph: see note on Ps 77:16. I now hear an unfamiliar voice: the “voice” is the “thunder” of God’s judgment against Egypt (v. 8). Some translate: “We heard a language we did not understand,” and regard it as referring to the fact that the people were aliens in a foreign land (see Ps 114:1; Deut 28:49; 33:19). Some also regard this as a reference to inspiration.
