Psalms 81:1-3

Psalm 81 ¹ 

For the music director; according to the gittith style; ²  by Asaph.

81:1 Shout for joy to God, our source of strength!

Shout out to the God of Jacob!

81:2 Sing ³  a song and play the tambourine,

the pleasant sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument!

81:3 Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon, ⁴ 

and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins. ⁵ 

Psalms 108:2-3

108:2 Awake, O stringed instrument and harp!

I will wake up at dawn! ⁶ 

108:3 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord!

I will sing praises to you before foreigners! ⁷ 

Psalms 150:3-5

150:3 Praise him with the blast of the horn!

Praise him with the lyre and the harp!

150:4 Praise him with the tambourine and with dancing!

Praise him with stringed instruments and the flute!

150:5 Praise him with loud cymbals!

Praise him with clanging cymbals!

Psalms 150:1

Psalm 150 ⁸ 

150:1 Praise the Lord!

Praise God in his sanctuary!

Praise him in the sky, which testifies to his strength! ⁹ 

Psalms 25:1-6

Psalm 25 ¹⁰ 

By David.

25:1 O Lord, I come before you in prayer. ¹¹ 

25:2 My God, I trust in you.

Please do not let me be humiliated;

do not let my enemies triumphantly rejoice over me!

25:3 Certainly none who rely on you will be humiliated.

Those who deal in treachery will be thwarted ¹²  and humiliated.

25:4 Make me understand your ways, O Lord!

Teach me your paths! ¹³ 

25:5 Guide me into your truth ¹⁴  and teach me.

For you are the God who delivers me;

on you I rely all day long.

25:6 Remember ¹⁵  your compassionate and faithful deeds, O Lord,

for you have always acted in this manner. ¹⁶ 

[81:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 81. The psalmist calls God’s people to assemble for a festival and then proclaims God’s message to them. The divine speech (vv. 6-16) recalls how God delivered the people from Egypt, reminds Israel of their rebellious past, expresses God’s desire for his people to obey him, and promises divine protection in exchange for obedience.

[81:1]  ² tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument. See the superscription to Ps 8.

[81:2]  ³ tn Heb “lift up.”

[81:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “at the new moon.”

[81:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “at the full moon on the day of our festival.” The Hebrew word כֶּסֶה (keseh) is an alternate spelling of כֶּסֶא (kese’, “full moon”).

[108:2]  ⁶ tn BDB 1007 s.v. שַׁחַר takes “dawn” as an adverbial accusative, though others understand it as a personified direct object. “Dawn” is used metaphorically for the time of deliverance and vindication the psalmist anticipates. When salvation “dawns,” the psalmist will “wake up” in praise.

[108:3]  ⁷ tn Or “the peoples.”

[150:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 150. The Psalter concludes with a resounding call for praise from everything that has breath.

[150:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “the sky of his strength.”

[25:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 25. The psalmist asks for divine protection, guidance and forgiveness as he affirms his loyalty to and trust in the Lord. This psalm is an acrostic; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for v. 18, which, like v. 19, begins with ר (resh) instead of the expected ק (qof). The final verse, which begins with פ (pe), stands outside the acrostic scheme.

[25:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to you, O Lord, my life I lift up.” To “lift up” one’s “life” to the Lord means to express one’s trust in him through prayer. See Pss 86:4; 143:8.

[25:3]  ¹² tn Heb “those who deal in treachery in vain.” The adverb רֵיקָם (reqam, “in vain”) probably refers to the failure (or futility) of their efforts. Another option is to understand it as meaning “without cause” (cf. NIV “without excuse”; NRSV “wantonly treacherous”).

[25:4]  ¹³ sn Teach me your paths. In this context the Lord’s “ways” and “paths” refer to the moral principles which the Lord prescribes for his followers. See vv. 8-10.

[25:5]  ¹⁴ sn The Lord’s commandments are referred to as truth here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will.

[25:6]  ¹⁵ tn That is, “remember” with the intention of repeating.

[25:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for from antiquity [are] they.”