Psalm 81

For the choir director: A psalm of Asaph, to be accompanied by a stringed instrument. Hebrew according to the gittith. ¹Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Jacob. ² Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp. ³ Blow the ram’s horn at new moon, and again at full moon to call a festival! ⁴ For this is required by the decrees of Israel; it is a regulation of the God of Jacob. ⁵ He made it a law for Israel Hebrew for Joseph. when he attacked Egypt to set us free.I heard an unknown voice say, ⁶ “Now I will take the load from your shoulders; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks. ⁷ You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah.Interlude

⁸“Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen to me! ⁹ You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god. ¹⁰ For it was I, the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.

¹¹“But no, my people wouldn’t listen. Israel did not want me around. ¹² So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas. ¹³ Oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths! ¹⁴ How quickly I would then subdue their enemies! How soon my hands would be upon their foes! ¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him; they would be doomed forever. ¹⁶ But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”