Psalm 81
God’s Appeal to Stubborn Israel
To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.(A)
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our festal day.(B)
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph,
when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a voice I had not known:(C)
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.(D)
7 In distress you called, and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah(E)
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!(F)
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.(G)
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.(H)
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.(I)
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.(J)
13 O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!(K)
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.(L)
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
and their doom would last forever.
16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”(M)
Footnotes
- 81.5
- 81.6
- 81.6
- 81.16
Cross references
- 81.1 : Ps 59.16; 66.1
- 81.3 : Lev 23.24; Num 10.10
- 81.5 : Ex 11.4
- 81.6 : Isa 9.4; 10.27
- 81.7 : Ex 2.23; 17.6, 7; 19.19; Ps 50.15
- 81.8 : Ps 50.7
- 81.9 : Deut 32.12; Isa 43.12
- 81.10 : Ex 20.2; Ps 103.5
- 81.11 : Ex 32.1
- 81.12 : Acts 7.42; Rom 1.24
- 81.13 : Deut 5.29; Ps 128.1; Isa 48.18
- 81.14 : Ps 47.3; Am 1.8
- 81.16 : Deut 32.13; Ps 147.14
