Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully 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.
- BSB For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. Of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.
- NKJV Sing aloud to God our strength; Make a joyful shout 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 Yahweh says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’
- Ps 66:1For the Chief Musician. A song. A Psalm. Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!
- Ps 100:1–2A Psalm of thanksgiving. Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!
- Ps 46:11Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
- Ps 8:1For the Chief Musician; on an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who has set your glory above the heavens!
- Phil 4:13I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
- Ps 28:7Yahweh is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him.
- Gen 50:17‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
- Matt 22:32‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
- Ps 18:1–2For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of Yahweh, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said, I love you, Yahweh, my strength.
- Ps 46:1–7For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- Ps 67:4Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations on earth. Selah.
- Ps 33:1–3Rejoice in Yahweh, you righteous! Praise is fitting for the upright.
- Ps 52:7“Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.