Chapter 81

For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. By Asaph.

¹Sing aloud to God, our strength!

Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!

²Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine,

The pleasant lyre with the harp.

³Blow the trumpet at the New Moon,

At the full moon, on our feast day.

⁴For it is a statute for Israel,

An ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony,

When he went out over the land of Egypt,

I heard a language that I didn’t know.

⁶“I removed his shoulder from the burden.

His hands were freed from the basket.

⁷You called in trouble, and I delivered you.

I answered you in the secret place of thunder.

I tested you at the waters of Meribah.”

Selah.

⁸“Hear, my people, and I will testify to you,

Israel, if you would listen to me!

⁹There shall be no strange god in you,

Neither shall you worship any foreign god.

¹⁰I am Yahweh, your God,

Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹But my people didn’t listen to my voice.

Israel desired none of me.

¹²So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts,

That they might walk in their own counsels.

¹³Oh that my people would listen to me,

That Israel would walk in my ways!

¹⁴I would soon subdue their enemies,

And turn my hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵The haters of Yahweh would cringe before him,

And their punishment would last forever.

¹⁶But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat.

I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”