NIV

Psalms 81

1<pb/><e>For the director of music. According to gittith.</e><f>[151]</f> Of Asaph. <pb/><t>Sing for joy to God our strength;</t> <t>shout aloud to the God of Jacob!</t>
2<t>Begin the music, strike the timbrel,</t> <t>play the melodious harp and lyre. <pb/></t>
3<t>Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,</t> <t>and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;</t>
4<t>this is a decree for Israel,</t> <t>an ordinance of the God of Jacob.</t>
5<t>When God went out against Egypt,</t> <t>he established it as a statute for Joseph. <pb/>I heard an unknown voice say: <pb/></t>
6<t>“I removed the burden from their shoulders;</t> <t>their hands were set free from the basket.</t>
7<t>In your distress you called and I rescued you,</t> <t>I answered you out of a thundercloud;</t> <t>I tested you at the waters of Meribah.<f>[152]</f></t>
8<t>Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—</t> <t>if you would only listen to me, Israel!</t>
9<t>You shall have no foreign god among you;</t> <t>you shall not worship any god other than me.</t>
10<t>I am the LORD your God,</t> <t>who brought you up out of Egypt.</t> <t>Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. <pb/></t>
11<t>“But my people would not listen to me;</t> <t>Israel would not submit to me.</t>
12<t>So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts</t> <t>to follow their own devices. <pb/></t>
13<t>“If my people would only listen to me,</t> <t>if Israel would only follow my ways,</t>
14<t>how quickly I would subdue their enemies</t> <t>and turn my hand against their foes!</t>
15<t>Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,</t> <t>and their punishment would last forever.</t>
16<t>But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;</t> <t>with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”</t>