Psalms 81

1 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.

For the Chief Musician; set to the Gittith. [A Psalm] of Asaph. Sing aloud unto God our strength: Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

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

Raise a song, and bring hither the timbrel, The pleasant harp with the psaltery.

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

Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast-day.

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

For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5 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.

He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony, When he went out over the land of Egypt, [Where] I heard a language that I knew not.

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

I removed his shoulder from the burden: His hands were freed from the basket.

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

Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. (Selah)

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

Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken unto me!

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

There shall no strange god be in thee; Neither shalt thou worship any foreign god.

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

I am Jehovah thy God, Who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt: Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

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

But my people hearkened not to my voice; And Israel would none of me.

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

So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, That they might walk in their own counsels.

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

Oh that my people would hearken unto me, That Israel would walk in my ways!

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

I would soon subdue their enemies, And turn my hand against their adversaries.

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

The haters of Jehovah should submit themselves unto him: But their time should endure for ever.

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

He would feed them also with the finest of the wheat; And with honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee.