For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. Of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. By Asaph. Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!
- KJV Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
- NKJV Sing aloud to God our strength; Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.
- NASB Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.
- NLT Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Jacob.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A summons to sing aloud and shout joyfully to God, Israel's strength and the God of Jacob. Worship begins with glad, wholehearted praise to the God who saves.
Overview
Psalm 81 opens with an exuberant call to corporate praise, likely for a festival celebration. Naming God as 'our strength' and 'the God of Jacob' grounds joy in His covenant faithfulness to His people. Such joyful worship rightly responds to the God who has redeemed and sustains His people, foreshadowing the praise of all who are saved in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 31:7For this is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations! Make your praises heard, and say, ‘O LORD, save Your people, the remnant of Israel!’
- Ps 66:1For the choirmaster. A song. A Psalm. Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!
- Ps 100:1–2A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
- Ps 46:11The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
- Ps 8:1For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.
- Phil 4:13I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
- Ps 28:7The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.
- Gen 50:17‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
- Matt 22:32‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
- Ps 18:1–2For the choirmaster. Of David the servant of the LORD, who sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love You, O LORD, my strength.
- Ps 46:1–7For the choirmaster. Of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.
- Ps 67:4Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples justly and lead the nations of the earth. Selah
- Ps 33:1–3Rejoice in the LORD, O righteous ones; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him.
- Ps 52:7“Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 81:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.