Psalms, 81

1. [For the choirmaster On the . . . of Gath Of Asaph] Sing for joy to God our strength, shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.

1. <To the chief Musician upon Gittith, [A Psalm] of Asaph.> Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

2. Strike up the music, beat the tambourine, play the melodious harp and the lyre;

2. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

3. blow the trumpet for the new month, for the full moon, for our feast day!

3. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

4. For Israel has this statute, a decision of the God of Jacob,

4. For this [was] a statute for Israel, [and] a law of the God of Jacob.

5. a decree he imposed on Joseph, when he went to war against Egypt. I heard a voice unknown to me,

5. This he ordained in Joseph [for] a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: [where] I heard a language [that] I understood not.

6. 'I freed his shoulder from the burden, his hands were able to lay aside the labourer's basket.

6. I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.

7. You cried out in your distress, so I rescued you. 'Hidden in the storm, I answered you, I tested you at the waters of Meribah.Pause

7. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

8. Listen, my people, while I give you warning; Israel, if only you would listen to me!

8. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

9. 'You shall have no strange gods, shall worship no alien god.

9. There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

10. I, Yahweh, am your God, who brought you here from Egypt, you have only to open your mouth for me to fill it.

10. I [am] the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11. 'My people would not listen to me, Israel would have none of me.

11. But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

12. So I left them to their stubborn selves, to follow their own devices.

12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: [and] they walked in their own counsels.

13. 'If only my people would listen to me, if only Israel would walk in my ways,

13. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, [and] Israel had walked in my ways!

14. at one stroke I would subdue their enemies, turn my hand against their opponents.

14. I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

15. 'Those who hate Yahweh would woo his favour, though their doom was sealed for ever,

15. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.

16. while I would feed him on pure wheat, would give you your fill of honey from the rock.'

16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.