Read & explore together
Sing for Joy to God Our Strength
Psalm 81 starts as a festival song full of shouting, instruments and trumpet blasts. Then the poem speaks in God’s voice, joining joyful worship with remembered rescue, a call to listen, and a warning about refusing him.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
This passage is poetry and song for Israel’s feast day. It names singing, instruments and the trumpet as part of a God-given ordinance. The psalm then refers to Egypt, burdens being removed, deliverance in trouble, testing at Meribah, and a call to worship no foreign god.
Psalms 81:1–16Main takeaway
Psalm 81 teaches that God’s people are called to rejoice before him, remember his rescue, and listen to him alone.
Explore the poem and its images
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Sing with joy because God has appointed this feastThe psalm opens with commands to sing aloud, shout, raise a song and play instruments. The tambourine, lyre, harp and trumpet all belong to this celebration.
Explanation
The psalm opens with commands to sing aloud, shout, raise a song and play instruments. The tambourine, lyre, harp and trumpet all belong to this celebration. This is not presented as a casual choice, because the feast is called a statute and an ordinance from the God of Jacob.
02The song recalls trouble, rescue and God’s voiceVerse 5 links the feast with Joseph and Egypt, and the psalm then presents direct speech from God.
Explanation
Verse 5 links the feast with Joseph and Egypt, and the psalm then presents direct speech from God. He says he removed the burden from the shoulder and freed the hands from the basket. He also says his people called in trouble, he delivered them, and he tested them at Meribah.
03Listen to God alone, not to stubborn heartsGod calls, “Hear, my people,” and forbids strange or foreign gods. He reminds them that he brought them up from Egypt.
Explanation
God calls, “Hear, my people,” and forbids strange or foreign gods. He reminds them that he brought them up from Egypt. Yet the people did not listen, so he let them follow their own counsels. The poem then expresses God’s desire for obedience and pictures blessing as the finest wheat and honey out of the rock.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What makes the opening celebration more than just loud music?
Look at the commands to sing and play, then notice that the feast is called God’s statute and ordinance.
02Which rescue details does God name when he speaks in this psalm?
List the burden removed, the hands freed, the cry in trouble, and God’s deliverance and testing.
03What contrast does the psalm draw between refusing God and listening to him?
Compare stubborn hearts and walking in their own counsels with walking in God’s ways and being fed with finest wheat and honey from the rock.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Psalms 81:1–16
1Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!
2Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp.
3Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
4For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5He appointed it in Joseph for a covenant, when he went out over the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I didn’t know.
6“I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket.
7You 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.
8“Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me!
9There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god.
10I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.
12So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.
13Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
14I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries.
15The haters of Yahweh would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.
16But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”