For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob.
For a statute to Israel it is , An ordinance of the God of Jacob.
For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of theGod of Jacob;
Psalms — The canon's longest book — 150 Psalms edited into five doxology-bookended books, composed across a millennium, attributed to David, Asaph, Korah's sons, Moses, Solomon, Heman, Ethan, and anonymous voices. A ''Torah of David''; the Bible's longest continuous liturgical-devotional corpus.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Voices5
"Sound the trumpet at the beginning of the month, on the day of your notable solemnity." We must also consider that we are commanded through the instruments of the musical discipline both to play the lyre for the Lord and to observe the day of …
Cassiodorus· EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 80:4, 585patristic
For it is a commandment for Israel, and a judgment of the God of Jacob. What is the commandment of God? To sing to God in victory: not to think it one's own, but the Lord's.
Jerome· Homily 13, on Psalm 80, 420patristic
For this was a statute for Israel,....
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
Ver. 4. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. It was a precept binding upon all the tribes that a sacred season should be set apart to commemorate the Lord's mercy; and truly it was but the Lord's due, he had a right and a claim to such special homage. When it can be proved that the observance of Christmas, Whitsuntide, and other Popish festivals was ever instituted by a divine statute, we also will attend to them, but not till then.
Note, Praising God is not only a good thing, which we do well to do, but it is our indispensable duty, which we are obliged to do; it is at our peril if we neglect it; and in all religious exercises we must have an eye to the institution as our warrant and rule: "This I do because God has commanded me; and therefore I hope he will accept me;" then it is done in faith.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
