Psalm 81

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of Asaph.

¹Sing for joy to God our strength;

shout aloud to the God of Jacob!

²Begin the music, strike the timbrel,

play the melodious harp and lyre.

³Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,

and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;

⁴this is a decree for Israel,

an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵When God went out against Egypt,

he established it as a statute for Joseph.

I heard an unknown voice say:

⁶“I removed the burden from their shoulders;

their hands were set free from the basket.

⁷In your distress you called and I rescued you,

I answered you out of a thundercloud;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

⁸Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—

if you would only listen to me, Israel!

⁹You shall have no foreign god among you;

you shall not worship any god other than me.

¹⁰I am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of Egypt.

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

¹¹“But my people would not listen to me;

Israel would not submit to me.

¹²So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts

to follow their own devices.

¹³“If my people would only listen to me,

if Israel would only follow my ways,

¹⁴how quickly I would subdue their enemies

and turn my hand against their foes!

¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,

and their punishment would last forever.

¹⁶But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;

with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”