Psalms 81:13
in Psalms 81If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Oh that my people would hearken unto me, That Israel would walk in my ways!
KJV
Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!
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This verse in Psalms 81
Commentary
11 notes on this verseO that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! The condescending love of God expresses itself in painful regrets for Israel's sin and punishment. Such were the laments of Jesus over Jerusalem. Certain doctrinalists find a stumbling stone in such passages, and set themselves to explain them away, but to men in sympathy with the divine nature the words and the emotions are plain enough. A God of mercy cannot see men heaping up sorrow for themselves through their sins without feeling his compassion excited toward them.
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 Fathers3 voices
"If My people would have heard Me, if Israel would have walked in My ways" [Psalm 81:13]. For perchance that Israel says, Behold I sin, it is manifest, I go after the affections of my own heart: but what can I do? The devil does this. Demons do this. What is the devil? Who are the demons? Certainly your enemies. "Unto nothing all their enemies I would have brought down; and on them that oppress them I would have sent forth My hand" [Psalm 81:14]. But now what have they to do to complain of enemies? Themselves have become the worse enemies. For how? What follows? Of enemies ye complain, yourselves, what are you?
"If my people listened to me, if Israel traveled in my ways, I would have reduced their foes to nothing and laid my hand on those afflicting them." If they had adhered to my advice and followed my commandments, I would easily have destroyed their …
If my people had heard me. O most merciful Father, O compassionate God! He entreated, and was not heard; as though angered, he lets go the wanton son. Again he sees him perishing, and grieves that he perishes. And what does he say? If my people had heard me, if Israel had walked in my ways, I would perhaps have humbled their enemies for nothing. Was it a great thing for me to deliver you from tribulation? could I not send forth my majesty and rescue you from danger?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 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.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
O that my people had hearkened unto me,....
The Nineteenth Century3 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.
O that my people had hearkened unto me, - Israel had walked in my ways - Nothing can be more plaintive than the original; sense and sound are surprisingly united. I scruple not to say to him who understands the Hebrew, however learned, he has never found in any poet, Greek or Latin, a finer example of deep-seated grief, unable to express itself in appropriate words without frequent interruptions of sighs and sobs, terminated with a mournful cry. yl (m# ym( wl ישראי בדרכי יהלכו Lo ammi shomea li Yishrael bidrachi yehallechu! He who can give the proper guttural pronunciation to the letter ע ain; and gives the ו vau, and the י yod, their full Asiatic sound, not pinching them to death by a compressed and worthless European enunciation; will at once be convinced of the propriety of this remark.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Oh that my people had hearkened unto me - This passage is designed mainly to show what would have been the consequences if the Hebrew people had been obedient to the commands of God, Psa 81:14-16. At the same time, however, it expresses what was the earnest desire - the wish - the preference of God, namely, that they had been obedient, and had enjoyed his favor. This is in accordance with all the statements, all the commands, all the invitations, all the warnings, in the Bible. In the entire volume of inspiration there is not one command addressed to people to walk in the ways of sin; there is not one statement that God desires they should do it; there is not one intimation that he wishes the death of the sinner. The contrary is implied in all the declarations which God has made - in all his commands, warnings, and invitations - in all his arrangements for the salvation of people. See Deu 5:29; Deu 32:29-30; Isa 48:18; Eze 18:23, Eze 18:32; Eze 33:11; 2Pe 3:9; Luk 19:42. And Israel had walked in my ways! - Had kept my commandments; had been obedient to my laws. When people, therefore, do not walk in the ways of God it is impossible that they should take refuge, as an excuse for it, in the plea that God desires this, or that he commands it, or that he is pleased with it, or that he approves it. There is no possible sense in which this can be true; in every sense, and on every account, he prefers that people should be obedient, and not disobedient; good, and not bad; happy, and not miserable; saved, and not lost. Every doctrine of theology should be held and interpreted in consistency with this as a fundamental truth. That there are things which are difficult to be explained on the supposition that this is true, must be admitted; but what truth is there in reference to which there are not difficulties to be explained? […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ל֗וּ | lu | if | H3863 → | |
| עַ֭מִּי | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| שֹׁמֵ֣עַֽ | shomea' | [will be] listening | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| לִ֑י | li | to me | ||
| יִ֝שְׂרָאֵ֗ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| בִּדְרָכַ֥י | bidrakhai | in ways my | H1870 → | 707 times |
| יְהַלֵּֽכוּ׃ | yehalekhu | they will walk | H1980 → | 1546 times |
ל֗וּif
luH3863 →
עַ֭מִּיpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
שֹׁמֵ֣עַֽ[will be] listening
shomea'H8085 →1159 times
לִ֑יto me
li
יִ֝שְׂרָאֵ֗לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
בִּדְרָכַ֥יin ways my
bidrakhaiH1870 →707 times
יְהַלֵּֽכוּ׃they will walk
yehalekhuH1980 →1546 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
Matthew 23:37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
it leads to
- Luke 13:34–35
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
- Psalms 91:4
He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.
- Ruth 2:12
May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.”
- Deuteronomy 32:11–12
As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
- Psalms 17:8
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
- Luke 13:34–35
Through
Deuteronomy 5:29If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.
it leads to
- Isaiah 48:18
If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.
- Isaiah 48:18
Through
Isaiah 48:18If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 5:29
If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.
- Psalms 119:165
Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your law; nothing can make them stumble.
- Deuteronomy 5:29
Where this verse is studied
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.