Psalm 81

For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. Of Asaph.

1 Sing for joy to God our strength;

make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.

2 Lift up a song, strike the tambourine,

play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

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

and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.

4 For this is a statute for Israel,

an ordinance of 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:

6 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden;

his hands were freed from the basket.

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.

Selah

8 Hear, O My people, and I will warn you:

O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!

9 There must be no strange god among you,

nor shall you bow to 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.

11 But My people would not listen to Me,

and Israel would not obey Me.

12 So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts

to follow their own devices.

13 If only My people would listen to Me,

if Israel would follow My ways,

14 how soon I would subdue their enemies

and turn My hand against their foes!

15 Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience,

and their doom would last forever.

16 But I would feed you the finest wheat;

with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Psalm 81, note a Gittith is probably a musical or liturgical term; here and in Psalms 8 and 84.Psalm 81:5, note b Or in JosephPsalm 81:7, note c Meribah means quarreling; see Exodus 17:7.