Psalm 81

For the end, a Psalm for ¹Asaph, concerning the wine-presses.

¹ Rejoice ye in God our helper; shout aloud to the God of Jacob. ² Take a psalm, and produce the timbrel, the pleasant psaltery with the harp. ³ Blow the trumpet at the new moon, in the glorious day of ²your feast.

⁴ For this is an ordinance for Israel, and a statute of the God of Jacob. ⁵ He made ³it to be a testimony in Joseph, when he came forth out of the land of Egypt: he heard a language which he understood not.

748

⁶ He removed his back from burdens: his hands slaved in making the baskets. ⁷ Thou didst call upon me in trouble, and I delivered thee; I heard thee in the secret place of the storm: I proved thee at the water of ⁴Strife. Pause. ⁸ Hear, my people, and I will speak to thee, O Israel; and I will testify to thee: if thou wilt hearken to me; ⁹ there shall be no new god in thee; neither shalt thou worship a strange god. ¹⁰ For I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. ¹¹ But my people hearkened not to my voice; and Israel gave no heed to me. ¹² So I let them go after the ways of their own hearts: they will go on in their own ways.

¹³ If my people had hearkened to me, if Israel had walked in my ways, ¹⁴ I should have put down their enemies very quickly, and should have laid my hand upon those that afflicted them. ¹⁵ The Lord's enemies should have lied to him: but ⁵their time shall be for ever. ¹⁶ And he fed them with the fat of wheat; and satisfied them with honey out of the rock.

Psalm 82

A Psalm for Asaph.

¹ God stands in the assembly of gods; and in the midst of them will judge gods. ² How long will ye judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of sinners? Pause. ³ Judge the orphan and poor: ⁶do justice to the low and needy. ⁴ Rescue the needy, and deliver the poor out of the hand of the sinner.

⁵ They know not, nor understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. ⁶ I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you children of the Most High. ⁷ But ye die as men, and fall as one of the princes.

⁸ Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.