The chat will start when you send the first message.
1Shout for joy to God, our source of strength!
Shout out to the God of Jacob!
2Sing a song and play the tambourine,[#tn Heb “lift up.”]
the pleasant sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument!
3Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon,[#tn Heb “at the new moon.”sn New moon festivals were a monthly ritual in Israel (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 469-70). In this context the New Moon festival of the seventh month, when the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated (note the reference to a “festival” in the next line), may be in view.]
and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins.
4For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel;[#tn Heb “because a statute for Israel [is] it.”]
it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob.
5He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,
when he attacked the land of Egypt.
I heard a voice I did not recognize.
6It said: “I removed the burden from his shoulder;[#tn The words “It said” are not included in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.]
his hands were released from holding the basket.
7In your distress you called out and I rescued you.
I answered you from a dark thundercloud.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. (Selah)
8I said, ‘Listen, my people![#tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Verses 8-10 appear to recall what the Lord commanded the generation of Israelites that experienced the events described in v. 7. Note the statement in v. 11, “my people did not listen to me.”]
I will warn you!
O Israel, if only you would obey me!
9There must be no other god among you.[#tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 have a modal function, expressing what is obligatory.; #tn Heb “different”; “illicit.”]
You must not worship a foreign god.
10I am the Lord , your God,
the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it!’
11But my people did not obey me;[#tn Heb “did not listen to my voice.”]
Israel did not submit to me.
12I gave them over to their stubborn desires;[#tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”]
they did what seemed right to them.
13If only my people would obey me![#tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle לוּ (lu, “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).]
If only Israel would keep my commands!
14Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and attack their adversaries.”
15(May those who hate the Lord cower in fear before him![#tn “Those who hate the Lord” are also mentioned in 2 Chr 19:2 and Ps 139:21.; #tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.]
May they be permanently humiliated!)
16“I would feed Israel the best wheat,[#tn Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional sentence of vv. 13-14. The third masculine singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6.sn I would feed. After the parenthetical “curse” in v. 15, the Lord’s speech continues here.]
and would satisfy your appetite with honey from the rocky cliffs.”