Psalm 81

1 Sing with joy to God our strength*
and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.

2 Raise a song and sound the timbrel,*
the merry harp, and the lyre.

3 Blow the ram’s-horn at the new moon,*
and at the full moon, the day of our feast.

4 For this is a statute for Israel,*
a law of the God of Jacob.

5 He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph,*
when he came out of the land of Egypt.

6 I heard an unfamiliar voice saying,*
“I eased his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were set free from bearing the load.”

7 You called on me in trouble, and I saved you;*
I answered you from the secret place of thunder
and tested you at the waters of Meribah.

8 Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you:*
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

9 There shall be no strange god among you;*
you shall not worship a foreign god.

10 I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said,*
“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”

11 And yet my people did not hear my voice,*
and Israel would not obey me.

12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts,*
to follow their own devices.

13 Oh, that my people would listen to me!*
that Israel would walk in my ways!

14 I should soon subdue their enemies*
and turn my hand against their foes.

15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,*
and their punishment would last for ever.

16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat*
and satisfy him with honey from the rock.