Discovery BoxPsalms 81:10-16
Context81:10 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!’
81:11 But my people did not obey me; 1
Israel did not submit to me. 2
81:12 I gave them over to their stubborn desires; 3
they did what seemed right to them. 4
81:13 If only my people would obey me! 5
If only Israel would keep my commands! 6
81:14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and attack 7 their adversaries.”
81:15 (May those who hate the Lord 8 cower in fear 9 before him!
May they be permanently humiliated!) 10
81:16 “I would feed Israel the best wheat, 11
and would satisfy your appetite 12 with honey from the rocky cliffs.” 13
[81:11] 1 tn Heb “did not listen to my voice.”
[81:11] 2 tn The Hebrew expression אָבָה לִי (’avah liy) means “submit to me” (see Deut 13:8).
[81:12] 3 tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”
[81:12] 4 tn Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imperfect (“were walking”).
[81:13] 5 tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle לוּ (lu, “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).
[81:13] 6 tn Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”
[81:14] 7 tn Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see Isa 1:25; Ezek 38:12; Amos 1:8; Zech 13:7).
[81:15] 8 tn “Those who hate the
[81:15] 9 tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.
[81:15] 10 tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the
[81:16] 11 tn Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional sentence of vv. 13-14. The third masculine singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6.
[81:16] 12 tn Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10.
[81:16] 13 sn The language in this verse, particularly the references to wheat and honey, is reminiscent of Deut 32:13-14.
