AN UNRECOGNIZED VOICE: INTRA-TEXTUAL AND INTERTEXTUAL PERSPECTIVES ON PSALM 81 David Emanuel Hebrew University—Jerusalem Psalm 81 constitutes an Exodus psalm in which YHWH speaks directly to his people, admonishing them against worshipping foreign gods. As an incentive to obedience, YHWH recalls the punishments he inflicted against Israel’s forefathers for disobeying this injunction, and promises blessings to those who obey him. In addition to the original meaning intended by the psalmist, Psalm 81 bears additional meanings and serves additional functions depending on the contexts in which it appears. Thus the individual meaning of the composition differs from the meaning it adopts within the complex of its neighbors, Psalms 80 and 82. Similarly, its function alters again when read together with its re- lated intertexts. The present study constitutes a threefold literary reading of Psalm 81 that explores the changes in Psalm 81’s meaning from its reading as an individual text, to its reading in light of the aforementioned contexts. Even though the present paper adopts a synchronic approach to intertextuality, it nevertheless raises the probability of either the psalmist or the authors of Psalm 81’s intertexts purposefully reinterpreting their sources. 1. INTRODUCTION Psalm 81 constitutes one of many compositions in the Psalter recalling the Exodus tradition, events portraying YHWH delivering Israel from Egypt and leading them into the Promised Land. Psalms included in this group are 77, 78, 95, 105, 106, 135, and 136. 1 In each of these Psalms, the extent to which they refer to the Exodus varies with respect to the details included by the psalmists and the number of verses dedicated to reciting the tradition. Among the more notable incidents from the Exodus, Psalm 81 recalls: Israel’s release from slave labor (81:7), the law-giving at Sinai (81:10), and the provision of water at the waters of Meribah (81:8). The present study constitutes a threefold literary reading 2 of Psalm 81 that first focuses on the psalm as an individual composition written with a specific purpose in mind. The initial analysis, consisting of a verse-by-verse reading, contributes to an understanding of how the individual sections and verses of the psalm, even though they may seem disparate at times, work to- gether to create a literary unity. Three foci dominate this literary analysis of 1 This list is by no means exhaustive, and one could add Psalms such as 66 and 107. 2 For the most part, I have adopted the system of Total Interpretation for the close reading, as developed by M. Weiss, The Bible from Within: The Method of Total Interpretation (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1984).