Psalm 81
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 81[a]
Exhortation To Worship Worthily
1 For the director.[b] “Upon the gittith.” Of Asaph.
2 Sing out your joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob.[c]
3 Raise the chant and sound the tambourine;
play the pleasant harp and the lyre.
4 Sound the trumpet at the new moon,
and also at the full moon on the day of our Feast.[d]
5 For this is a law in Israel,
a decree of the God of Jacob.
6 He imposed this testimony on Joseph[e]
when he departed from the land of Egypt.
I now hear an unfamiliar voice:
7 “I lifted the burden from their shoulders;
their hands put aside the laborer’s basket.[f]
8 When you cried out to me in distress, I rescued you;[g]
from the thunderclouds I answered you;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah: Selah
9 “ ‘Listen to me, O my people, while I warn you.
O Israel, if only you would listen to me!
10 You must not accept a foreign god in your presence;
you must not bow down to an alien deity.
11 I am the Lord, your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
open your mouth[h] wide so that I may fill it.’
12 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel refused to obey me.[i]
13 So I abandoned them to their stubborn hearts[j]
and let them follow their own devices.
14 [k]“If only my people would listen to me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways,[l]
15 I would quickly subdue their enemies
and raise my hand[m] against their foes.
16 “Then those who hate the Lord[n] would tremble before him,
for their doom would last forever.
17 But Israel he would feed with the finest of wheat[o]
and fill them with honey from the rock.”
Footnotes
- Psalm 81:1 The blasts of the trumpet call Israel to an assembly. The time is the full moon of September, the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (see Num 10:10; Lev 23:34, 39-43). The covenant is renewed. At such a time, it is also important to rediscover the demands of fidelity. The psalmist, who is completely pervaded by the spirit of Deuteronomy, makes everyone aware of them. Let the people be on guard not to close their hearts to God. Today (v. 14), as yesterday (vv. 8, 12-13), the fidelity of God is checkmated by the infidelity of human beings.
In the last verse (v. 17) of this psalm, Christians cannot fail to be reminded of the blessings of the Eucharist in which we are filled with the “finest of wheat” (words found in the Mass texts of the Holy Thursday Evening Mass and the Easter Season), with bread that has become the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each Eucharist is a renewal of the New Covenant, enabling us to relive the saving events of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection. And in each Eucharist, we pledge ourselves to Christ by hearing and keeping his word proclaimed and by receiving his Body and Blood. - Psalm 81:1 For the director: these words are thought to be a musical or liturgical notation. Upon the gittith: see note on Ps 8:1. Asaph: see notes on Pss 73–89.
- Psalm 81:2 Jacob: i.e., Israel (see Gen 32:28-29). Concerning the ritual “shout,” see Ps 33:3.
- 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.
- Psalm 81:7 Burden . . . basket: allusion to the forced labor that the Israelites had to endure in Egypt (see Ex 1:11-14).
- Psalm 81:8 When you cried out . . . I rescued you: see Ex 3:7-10; see also Ps 106:9; Ex 14:21, 24; 15:8, 10. From the thunderclouds: allusion to the theophany at Sinai (see Ex 19:16ff). I tested you . . . Meribah: see Ps 95:8; Ex 17:1-7.
- Psalm 81:11 The Lord challenges Israel to obey the first commandment of fidelity to God after the proclamation of the Exodus (see Ps 78:23-29; Deut 11:13-15; 28:1-4). Open your mouth wide: i.e., trust in the Lord alone for every need. So that I may fill it: as he did in the wilderness (see v. 17; Ps 78:23-29; see also Ps 37:3-4; Deut 11:13-15; 28:1-4).
- Psalm 81:12 Instead of remaining loyal to the Lord out of gratitude for their redemption and his promise of the future, the people continued to rebel against him—a characteristic typical of their history beginning with the generation in the wilderness (see Pss 78; 95; 106).
- Psalm 81:13 God gives the people over to their sins (see Ps 78:29; Isa 6:9f; 29:10; 63:17; see also Rom 1:24, 26, 28) because of their stubborn hearts; but he always reserves the right to “circumcise” their hearts and bring them back to him (see Deut 30:6; 1 Ki 8:58; Jer 31:33; Ezek 11:19; 36:26). Hearts: see note on Ps 4:8.
- Psalm 81:14 An allusion to the covenant blessings; the era of wars and persecutions will cease (see Lk 21:24), their enemies will be vanquished, and the people will enjoy the best of everything.
- Psalm 81:14 The Lord cannot abandon his people completely. He calls them to return to him and follow his ways, i.e., his commandments (see Pss 27:11; 86:11; 128:1; 143:8). For if they listen to God’s word, they will respond by faith and repentance, and carry out his will rather than their own.
- Psalm 81:15 If his people return to him, the Lord will quickly come to their aid with his hand pressing hard against their enemies.
- Psalm 81:16 If his people return to him, the Lord will mete out to their enemies—those who hate the Lord—their just deserts, inflicting on them an everlasting punishment.
- Psalm 81:17 Finest of wheat: a staple of life. For Christians, of course, wheat is associated with the Eucharist, and this phrase has given rise to one of the finest modern Eucharistic hymns, Gift of Finest Wheat, composed for the 1976 Eucharistic Congress that took place in the United States. Honey from the rock: the purest of honey, since it came from places usually not attainable (from a cleft of rock in which bees in Canaan sometimes built their hives). The phrase is reminiscent of God’s promise to Moses of a “land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex 3:8).
