Psalm 81

The Voice

¹ Sing with joy to God, our strength, our fortress.
    Raise your voices to the True God of Jacob.
² Sing and strike up a melody;
    sound the tambourine,
    strum the sweet lyre and the harp.
³ Blow the trumpet to announce the new moon,
    the full moon, the day of our feast.^[b]
4 For this is prescribed for Israel,
    a rule ordained by the True God of Jacob.
⁵ A precept established by God in Joseph
    during His journey in Egypt.

I hear it said in a language foreign to me:
⁶ “I removed the burden from your shoulders;
    I removed heavy baskets from your hands.
⁷ You cried out to Me, I heard your distress, and I delivered you;
    I answered you from the secret place, where clouds of thunder roll.
    I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

[pause]^[c]

⁸ “O My people, hear Me; I will rebuke you.
    Israel, Israel! If you would only listen to Me.
⁹ Do not surround yourselves with other gods
    or bow down to strange gods.
¹⁰ I am the Eternal, your True God.
    I liberated you from slavery, led you out from the land of Egypt.
    If you open your mouth wide, I will fill it.

¹¹ “But My own people did not hear My voice!
    Israel refused to obey Me.
¹² So I freed them to follow their hard hearts,
    to do what they thought was best.
¹³ If only My people would hear My voice
    and Israel would follow My direction!
¹⁴ Then I would not hesitate to humble their enemies
    and defeat their opposition Myself.
¹⁵ Those who hate the Eternal will cower in His presence, pretending to submit;
    they secretly loathe Him, yet their doom is forever.
¹⁶ But you—I will feed you the best wheat
    and satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”