Mazmur 81:3-4

81:3 Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon, ¹ 

and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins. ² 

81:4 For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel; ³ 

it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob.

[81:3]  ¹ tn Heb “at the new moon.”

[81:3]  sn New moon festivals were a monthly ritual in Israel (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 469-70). In this context the New Moon festival of the seventh month, when the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated (note the reference to a “festival” in the next line), may be in view.

[81:3]  ² tn Heb “at the full moon on the day of our festival.” The Hebrew word כֶּסֶה (keseh) is an alternate spelling of כֶּסֶא (kese’, “full moon”).

[81:3]  sn The festival in view is probably the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), which began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when the moon was full. See Lev 23:34; Num 29:12.

[81:4]  ³ tn Heb “because a statute for Israel [is] it.”