A Call to Obedience

1 For the choir director: on the Gittith. Of Asaph.(A)
Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.(B)
2
Lift up a song—play the tambourine,
the melodious lyre, and the harp.(C)
3
Blow the horn on the day of our feasts(a)(b)
during the new moon(D)
and during the full moon.
4
For this is a statute for Israel,
a judgment of the God of Jacob.(E)
5
He set it up as an ordinance for Joseph
when He went throughout(c) the land of Egypt.(F)


I heard an unfamiliar language:
6
“I relieved his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were freed from carrying the basket.(G)
7
You called out in distress, and I rescued you;
I answered you from the thundercloud.(H)
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.(I)Selah
8
Listen, My people, and I will admonish you.
Israel, if you would only listen to Me!(J)
9
There must not be a strange god among you;
you must not bow down to a foreign god.(K)
10
I am Yahweh your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.(L)
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.(M)
11
“But My people did not listen to Me;
Israel did not obey Me.(N)
12
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own plans.(O)
13
If only My people would listen to Me
and Israel would follow My ways,(P)
14
I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn My hand against their foes.”(Q)
15
Those who hate the Lord
would pretend submission to Him;(R)
their doom would last forever.(S)
16
But He would feed Israel(d) with the best wheat.
“I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”(T)

Footnotes:

a. Psalm 81:3: Lit feast
b. Psalm 81:3: Either Passover or Tabernacles
c. Psalm 81:5: LXX, Syr, Jer read out of
d. Psalm 81:16: Lit him

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.