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Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.^[a] Of Asaph.

 Sing aloud to God our strength;
   shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
² Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
   the sweet lyre with the harp.
³ Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
   at the full moon, on our feast day.

⁴ For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule^[b] of the God of Jacob.
⁵ He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over^[c] the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
⁶ “I relieved your^[d] shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
⁷ In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
⁸ Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
⁹ There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
¹⁰ I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹ “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
¹³ Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
¹⁴ I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
¹⁶ But he would feed you^[e] with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 81:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
2. Psalm 81:4 Or just decree
3. Psalm 81:5 Or against
4. Psalm 81:6 Hebrew his; also next line
5. Psalm 81:16 That is, Israel; Hebrew him

Cross references:

1. Psalm 81:1 : Ps. 8, title; 84, title
2. Psalm 81:1 : Ps. 50, title
3. Psalm 81:1 : [Deut. 32:43]
4. Psalm 81:1 : See Ps. 66:1
5. Psalm 81:2 : Ex. 15:20
6. Psalm 81:2 : Ps. 71:22
7. Psalm 81:2 : Ps. 71:22
8. Psalm 81:3 : Lev. 23:24; Num. 10:10; 29:1
9. Psalm 81:5 : Ps. 122:4; [Ps. 78:5]
10. Psalm 81:5 : Ps. 77:15; 78:67; 80:1
11. Psalm 81:5 : Ex. 11:4
12. Psalm 81:5 : Ps. 114:1
13. Psalm 81:5 : [Deut. 28:49; Jer. 5:15]
14. Psalm 81:6 : Isa. 9:4; 10:27
15. Psalm 81:6 : Ex. 1:11
16. Psalm 81:7 : Ps. 50:15; [Ex. 2:23; 14:10]
17. Psalm 81:7 : Ex. 19:19; See Ps. 18:11-14
18. Psalm 81:7 : Ex. 17:7; Num. 20:13
19. Psalm 81:8 : See Ps. 50:7
20. Psalm 81:9 : Ps. 44:20; Isa. 43:12; [Ex. 20:3]
21. Psalm 81:9 : Deut. 32:12
22. Psalm 81:10 : Ex. 20:2
23. Psalm 81:10 : [Ps. 37:3, 4]
24. Psalm 81:11 : Ex. 32:1; Deut. 32:15, 18; Prov. 1:25, 30
25. Psalm 81:12 : Job 8:4; [Acts 7:42; 14:16; Rom. 1:24, 26]
26. Psalm 81:12 : [Deut. 29:19]
27. Psalm 81:12 : Ps. 106:43; Jer. 7:24; Mic. 6:16
28. Psalm 81:13 : Deut. 5:29; 32:29; Isa. 48:18
29. Psalm 81:13 : Deut. 5:33
30. Psalm 81:14 : Amos 1:8
31. Psalm 81:15 : Ps. 18:44
32. Psalm 81:16 : Ps. 147:14; Deut. 32:14
33. Psalm 81:16 : Deut. 32:13; [Job 29:6; Ezek. 16:19]