Psalm 81:1-16

To the Chief Musician. On “the Gittith.” Asaph’s. 81  Shout ye for joy unto God our strength, Sound the note of triumph to the God of Jacob;  Raise a melody and strike the timbrel, The lyre so sweet with the harp:  Blow at the new moon the horn, At the full moon for the day of our sacred festival:  For a statute to Israel it is, A regulation, by the God of Jacob;  A testimony in Joseph he appointed it When he went forth over the land of Egypt: A language I liked not used I to hear;  I took away from the burden his shoulder, His hands from the clay were set free.  In distress thou didst cry and I delivered thee,—I answered thee within a hiding-place of thunder, I proved thee by the waters of Meribah. [Selah.  Hear, O my people, and I will adjure thee, O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me!  There shall not be within thee a foreign God,—Neither shalt thou bow down to a strange God: 10  I Yahweh am thy God Who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,—Open wide thy mouth, that I may fill it. 11  But my people hearkened not unto my voice, Even Israel inclined not unto me. 12  So then I let them go on in the stubbornness of their own heart, They might walk in their own counsels! 13  If my people were hearkening unto me, [If] Israel in my ways would walk 14  Right soon their foes would I subdue, And against their adversaries would I turn my hand: 15  The haters of Yahweh should come cringing unto him, Then let their own good time be age-abiding! 16  Then would he feed them from the marrow of the wheat, Yea out of the rock—with honey would I satisfy thee.

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