Psalm 81

Common English Bible

Psalm 81

For the music leader. According to the Gittith. Of Asaph.

81 Rejoice out loud to God, our strength!
    Shout for joy to Jacob’s God!
²Take up a song and strike the drum!
    Sweet lyre along with harp!
³Blow the horn on the new moon,
    at the full moon, for our day of celebration!
⁴Because this is the law for Israel;
    this is a rule of Jacob’s God.
⁵He made it a decree for Joseph
    when he went out against the land of Egypt,
    when I heard a language I did not yet know:

⁶“I lifted the burden off your shoulders;
    your hands are free of the brick basket!
⁷In distress you cried out, so I rescued you.
    I answered you in the secret of thunder.
    I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
⁸Listen, my people, I’m warning you!
    If only you would listen to me, Israel.
⁹There must be no foreign god among you.
    You must not bow down to any strange deity.
¹⁰I am the Lord your God,
    who brought you up from Egypt’s land.
    Open your mouth wide—I will fill it up!

¹¹But my people wouldn’t listen to my voice.
    Israel simply wasn’t agreeable toward me.
¹²So I sent them off to follow their willful hearts;
    they followed their own advice.
¹³How I wish my people would listen to me!
    How I wish Israel would walk in my ways!
¹⁴Then I would subdue their enemies in a second;
    I would turn my hand against their foes.
¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would grovel before me,
    and their doom would last forever!
¹⁶But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
    I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”