Psalms 81

1 For the music director. On the gittith. A psalm of Asaph. Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy 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 Start the song! Play the tambourine, sweet-sounding lyre, and harp.

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

3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, and at full moon, to begin our festivals,

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

4 for this is a rule for Israel, a regulation of the God of Jacob.

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

5 God made this statute for Joseph when he opposed the land of Egypt. I heard a voice I didn't know, saying:

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 took the load from your shoulders; I freed your hands from carrying heavy baskets.

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

7 In your suffering you cried out to me, and I saved you. I answered you from the thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. (Selah)

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 My people, listen to my warnings! Israel, please 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 not be a strange god among you; you must never bow down to foreign gods and worship them.

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 out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide 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 didn't listen to me. Israel didn't want anything to do with me.

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

12 So I sent them away to follow their stubborn thinking, living as they chose.

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 only Israel would follow my ways!

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

14 It wouldn't take me long to conquer their enemies, to strike down 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 cringe before him, forever doomed.

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

16 But I would feed you the best wheat and satisfy you with honey from the rock.”

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