Psalms 81

1 For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. Of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.

Unto the end. For the wine and oil presses. A Psalm of Asaph himself. Exult before God our helper. Sing joyfully to the God of Jacob.

2 Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

Take up a psalm, and bring forth the timbrel: a pleasing Psalter with stringed instruments.

3 Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.

Sound the trumpet at the new moon, on the noteworthy day of your solemnity,

4 For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

for it is a precept in Israel and a judgment for the God of Jacob.

5 He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard an unfamiliar language:

He set it as a testimony with Joseph, when he went out of the land of Egypt. He heard a tongue that he did not know.

6 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.

He turned the burdens away from his back. His hands had been a slave to baskets.

7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the cloud of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

You called upon me in tribulation, and I freed you. I heard you within the hidden tempest. I tested you with waters of contradiction.

8 Hear, O My people, and I will warn you: O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!

My people, listen and I will call you to testify. If, O Israel, you will pay heed to me,

9 There must be no strange god among you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god.

then there will be no new god among you, nor will you adore a foreign god.

10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

For I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt. Widen your mouth, and I will fill it.

11 But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.

But my people did not hear my voice, and Israel was not attentive to me.

12 So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

And so, I sent them away, according to the desires of their heart. They will go forth according to their own inventions.

13 If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,

If my people had heard me, if Israel had walked in my ways,

14 how soon I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes!

I would have humbled their enemies, as if it were nothing, and I would have sent my hand upon those who troubled them.

15 Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.

The enemies of the Lord have lied to him, and their time will come, in every age.

16 But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

And he fed them from the fat of the grain, and he saturated them with honey from the rock.