Psalms 81

Sing for Joy to God Our Strength

¹Sing for joy to God our strength;

make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.

²Lift up a song, strike the tambourine,

play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

³Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,

and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.

⁴For this is a statute for Israel,

an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph[#81:5 Or in Joseph]

when he went out over the land of Egypt,

where I heard an unfamiliar language:

⁶“I relieved his shoulder of the burden;

his hands were freed from the basket.

⁷You called out in distress, and I rescued you;

I answered you from the cloud of thunder;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

⁸Hear, O My people, and I will warn you:

O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!

⁹There must be no strange god among you,

nor shall you bow to a foreign god.

¹⁰I am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of Egypt.

Open wide your mouth,

and I will fill it.

¹¹But My people would not listen to Me,

and Israel would not obey Me.

¹²So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts

to follow their own devices.

¹³If only My people would listen to Me,

if Israel would follow My ways,

¹⁴how soon I would subdue their enemies

and turn My hand against their foes!

¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would feign obedience,

and their doom would last forever.

¹⁶But I would feed you the finest wheat;

with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”