Psalms 81:15
in Psalms 81Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The haters of Jehovah should submit themselves unto him: But their time should endure for ever.
KJV
The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.
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This verse in Psalms 81
Commentary
14 notes on this verseThe haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him. Though the submission would have been false and flattering, yet the enemies of Israel would have been so humiliated that they would have hastened to make terms with the favoured tribes. Our enemies become abashed and cowardly when we, with resolution, walk carefully with the Lord. It is in God's power to keep the fiercest in check, and he will do so if we have a filial fear, a pious awe of him. But their time should have endured for ever.
This site's exposition
If only My people would listen
on Psalms 81:13-16
The close is a conditional that never came true. Had Israel listened, their enemies would have been subdued and God's hand turned against their foes. The withheld gift is the finest wheat and honey from the rock, the same honey Deuteronomy 32:13 gives Israel in the land.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
"The enemies of God have lied unto Him" [Psalm 81:15]. Do you renounce? I renounce. And he returns to what he renounced. In fact, what things do you renounce, except bad deeds, diabolical deeds, deeds to be condemned of God, thefts, plunderings, perjuries, manslayings, adulteries, sacrileges, abominable rites, curious arts.. ..
"The Lord's foes were false to him." Aquila … put it this way: "in their hatred they will deny the Lord." By denying Christ the Lord, they brought hatred on themselves, and by being false to him and to the existing covenants they made themselves …
"The enemies of God have lied unto Him" [Psalm 81:15]. Do you renounce? I renounce. And he returns to what he renounced. In fact, what things do you renounce, except bad deeds, diabolical deeds, deeds to be condemned of God, thefts, plunderings, perjuries, manslayings, adulteries, sacrileges, abominable rites, curious arts.. ..
The enemies of the Lord have lied to him. In the Hebrew it better reads 'the enemies of the Lord shall deny him' — that is, the Jews, his enemies, shall deny him. But these enemies who are going to deny him — will they then perish? will there then be no remnant? And how did you swear to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their seed should be as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea? Why did you promise to the fathers, and not repay the sons? The enemies of the Lord shall deny him.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
); and, though they are not brought to love him, yet they shall be made to fear him and to confess that he is too hard for them and that it is in vain to contend with him.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), designed to show how unwilling God is that any should perish and desirous that all should come to repentance (he delights not in the ruin of sinful persons or nations), and also what enemies sinners are to themselves and what an aggravation it will be of their misery that they might have been happy upon such easy terms.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Testimony - For a witness of that glorious deliverance. Went - As a captain at the head of his people. Egypt - To execute his judgments upon that land.
The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him,....
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Obedience would have secured all promised blessings and the subjection of foes. In this passage, "should have," "would have," &c., are better, "should" and "would" expressing God's intention at the time, that is, when they left Egypt.
The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him. Though the submission would have been false and flattering, yet the enemies of Israel would have been so humiliated that they would have hastened to make terms with the favoured tribes. Our enemies become abashed and cowardly when we, with resolution, walk carefully with the Lord. It is in God's power to keep the fiercest in check, and he will do so if we have a filial fear, a pious awe of him. But their time should have endured for ever. The people would have been firmly established, and their prosperity would have been stable. Nothing confirms a state or a church like holiness. If we be firm in obedience we shall be firm in happiness. Righteousness establishes, sin ruins.
Their time should have endured for ever - That is, Their prosperity should have known no end.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The haters of the Lord - The enemies of the Lord, often represented as those who hate him - hatred being always in fact or in form connected with an unwillingness to submit to God. It is hatred of his law; hatred of his government; hatred of his plans; hatred of his character. See Rom 1:30; Joh 7:7, Joh 15:18, Joh 15:23-25. Compare Exo 20:5. Should have submitted themselves unto him - Margin, yielded retained obedience. Hebrew, lied. See the phrase explained in the notes at Psa 18:44. The meaning is, that they would have been so subdued as to acknowledge his authority or supremacy, while it is, at the same time, implied that this would have been forced and not cordial. No external power, though it may so conquer as to make people outwardly obedient, can affect the will, or subdue that. The grace of God alone can do that, and it is the special triumph of grace that it can do it. But their time - The time of his people. They would have continued to be a happy and a flourishing nation. Should have endured for ever - Perpetually - as long as they continued to be obedient. If a nation were obedient to the will of God; if it wholly obeyed his laws; if it countenanced by statute no form of sin; if it protected no iniquity; if it were temperate, just, virtuous, honest, there is no reason why its institutions should not be perpetual, or why it should ever be overthrown. Sin is, in all cases, the cause of the ruin of nations, as it is of individuals.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
If only My people would hearken to Me Still, if they desired to return to Me and to hearken to Me..
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מְשַׂנְאֵ֣י | mesanei | [those who] hate | H8130 → | 146 times |
| יְ֭הוָה | yahweh | <of> Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| יְכַֽחֲשׁוּ־ | yekhachashu- | they will cringe | H3584 → | 22 times |
| ל֑וֹ | lo | to him | ||
| וִיהִ֖י | vihi | and may it be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| עִתָּ֣ם | ʾitam | time their | H6256 → | 296 times |
| לְעוֹלָֽם׃ | leolam | for ever | H5769 → | 438 times |
מְשַׂנְאֵ֣י[those who] hate
mesaneiH8130 →146 times
יְ֭הוָה<of> Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
יְכַֽחֲשׁוּ־they will cringe
yekhachashu-H3584 →22 times
ל֑וֹto him
lo
וִיהִ֖יand may it be
vihiH1961 →3559 times
עִתָּ֣םtime their
ʾitamH6256 →296 times
לְעוֹלָֽם׃for ever
leolamH5769 →438 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 8:7because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 2:14
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- 1 John 2:15–16
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- James 4:4
You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
- 1 Corinthians 2:14
Through
Psalms 63:3Because Your loving devotion is better than life, my lips will glorify You.
it leads to
- Philippians 1:23
I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed.
- Psalms 69:16
Answer me, O LORD, for Your loving devotion is good; turn to me in keeping with Your great compassion.
- Psalms 51:15
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
- Psalms 30:5
For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.
- Hebrews 13:15
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
- Philippians 1:23
About Psalms
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 81; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Homily 13, on Psalm 80; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 81:8.