Psalms 81:8
in Psalms 81Hear, O My people, and I will warn you: O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken unto me!
KJV
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;
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This verse in Psalms 81
Commentary
11 notes on this verseHear, my people, and I will testify to you. God is speaking to us. Whatever he said to the people, he speaks also to us. Israel, if you will hear me. Why do you ask that I hear you? Let us see what he commands.
This site's exposition
Hear, O My people
on Psalms 81:8-10
The command against a foreign god comes first here, and the words that open the Ten Commandments follow it. Exodus 20:2 and 3 give them the other way round, the LORD naming Himself before He forbids other gods. The mouth opened wide is the one God fills.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
All this, from the beginning of the Psalm up to this verse, we have heard of the oil of the press. What remains is rather for grief and warning: for it belongs to the lees of the press, even to the end; perchance also not without a meaning in the interposition of the "Diapsalma." But even this too is profitable to hear, that he who sees himself already of the oil may rejoice; he that is in danger of running among the lees may beware. To both give heed, choose the one, fear the other. "Hear, O My people, and I will speak, and will bear witness unto thee." For it is not to a strange people, not to a people that belongs not to the press: "Judge ye," He saith, "between Me and My vineyard."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
It is thy interest to do so, and yet it is questionable whether thou wilt or no; for thy neck is an iron sinew." II. He puts them in mind of their obligation to him as the Lord their God and Redeemer (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
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.
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The reproof follows to Ps 81:12. if thou wilt hearken--He then propounds the terms of His covenant: they should worship Him alone, who (Ps 81:10) had delivered them, and would still confer all needed blessings.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee. What? Are the people so insensible as to be deaf to their God? So it would seem, for he earnestly asks a hearing. Are we not also at times quite as careless and immovable? O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me. There is much in this "if." How low have they fallen who will not hearken unto God himself! The deaf adder is not more grovelling.
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee. What? Are the people so insensible as to be deaf to their God? So it would seem, for he earnestly asks a hearing. Are we not also at times quite as careless and immovable? O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me. There is much in this "if." How low have they fallen who will not hearken unto God himself! The deaf adder is not more grovelling. We are not fond of being upbraided, we had rather avoid sharp and cutting truths; and, though the Lord himself rebuke us, we fly from his gentle reproofs.
Hear, O my people - These are nearly the same words with those spoken at the giving of the law, Exo 20:2.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee ... - See the notes at the similar passage in Psa 50:7. God calls their attention to what he required of them; to what his law demanded; to what was the condition of their being his people and of securing his favor. What the demanded was, that they should acknowledge him; obey him; serve him; that there should be no strange god among them, and that they should worship no false god, Psa 81:9.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שְׁמַ֣ע | shema' | listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| עַ֭מִּי | ʾami | O people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וְאָעִ֣ידָה | veaidah | so let me warn | H5749 → | 44 times |
| בָּ֑ךְ | bakh | <in> you | ||
| יִ֝שְׂרָאֵ֗ל | yisrael | O Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| תִּֽשְׁמַֽע־ | tishma'- | you will listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| לִֽי׃ | li | to me |
שְׁמַ֣עlisten
shema'H8085 →1159 times
עַ֭מִּיO people my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
וְאָעִ֣ידָהso let me warn
veaidahH5749 →44 times
בָּ֑ךְ<in> you
bakh
יִ֝שְׂרָאֵ֗לO Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
תִּֽשְׁמַֽע־you will listen
tishma'-H8085 →1159 times
לִֽי׃to me
li
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
Exodus 15:26saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then…
it leads to
- Psalms 103:3
He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,
- Deuteronomy 7:15
And the LORD will remove from you all sickness. He will not lay upon you any of the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.
- Exodus 23:25
So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you.
- Psalms 41:3–4
The LORD will sustain him on his bed of illness and restore him from his bed of sickness.
- Psalms 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
- Psalms 103:3
Through
John 3:11Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and yet you people do not accept our testimony.
it leads to
- John 8:38
I speak of what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
- 1 John 5:6–12
This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this, because the Spirit is the…
- John 8:38
Through
1 John 5:9Even if we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony that God has given about His Son.
it leads to
- Matthew 3:16–17
As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.
- Matthew 3:16–17
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 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, On the Psalms, Psalm 81; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Homily 13, on Psalm 80; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.