Oh That My People Would Listen to Me

¹Sing for joy to God our strength;

Make a loud shout to the God of Jacob.

²Lift up a song of praise, strike the tambourine,

The sweet sounding 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,

A judgment of the God of Jacob.

⁵He established it for a testimony in Joseph

When he went forth over the land of Egypt.

I heard a language that I did not know:

⁶¶“I relieved his shoulder of the burden,[#81:6 Lit removed his shoulder from]

His hands were freed from the basket.

⁷“You called in distress and I rescued you;

I answered you in the hiding place of thunder;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

⁸“Hear, O My people, and I will testify against you;

O Israel, if you would listen to Me!

⁹“Let there be no strange god among you;

And you shall not worship a foreign god.

¹⁰“I am Yahweh your God,

Who brought you up from the land of Egypt;

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

¹¹¶“But My people did not listen to My voice,

And Israel was not willing to obey Me.

¹²“So I released them over to the stubbornness of their heart,[#81:12 Lit him]

That they would walk in their own devices.

¹³“Oh that My people would listen to Me,

That Israel would walk in My ways!

¹⁴“I would quickly subdue their enemies

And I would turn My hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵“Those who hate Yahweh would cower before Him,

And their time of punishment would be forever.

¹⁶“But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,[#81:16 Lit He would feed him; #81:16 Lit fat]

And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”