Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 81
For the worship leader. A song of Asaph accompanied by the harp.[a]
God’s covenant people celebrated many festivals honoring God and His provisions. Poets composed songs specifically for use on feast days. Psalm 81 is one of those. It was written to celebrate the Festival of Booths. God commanded His people to celebrate this festival every year so they would remember how God provided for them as they moved toward the promised land (Deuteronomy 16:13–15). A portion of this psalm (verses 5b–16) would have been sung by the lead musician as if he were speaking for God.
In the annual rhythm of festivals and praise, God is reminding the people of all He has done for them and of their past disobedience in spite of His love. He is also calling His people to renew their commitment to Him, a reasonable request on a holiday honoring Him.
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.”
29 Jacob continued on his journey until he came to the land of the people who lived in the east. 2 As he approached, he saw a well in the field and three flocks of sheep lying beside it because the flocks were used to being watered from the well. The stone on the well’s mouth was large; 3 and when all of the flocks were gathered, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well, give water to the sheep, and then roll the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well. 4 Jacob spoke to them as he approached.
Jacob (to the shepherds): Brothers, where do you come from?
Shepherds: We are from Haran.
Jacob: 5 Do you know Laban, son of Nahor?
Shepherds: We do.
Jacob: 6 Is he well?
Shepherds: Yes, he is. Look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep right now.
Jacob: 7 Look, it’s still broad daylight, too early to gather the livestock together for the evening. Why don’t you water the sheep and take them out to graze in the pasture?
Shepherds: 8 We can’t—not until all of the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep.
9 While Jacob was still speaking to the shepherds, Rachel came with her father’s sheep for she, too, was a shepherd. 10 Now when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, along with Laban’s sheep, he went up to the well, rolled the stone from the well’s mouth by himself, and watered Laban’s flock. 11 Then Jacob greeted Rachel with a kiss and cried for joy. 12 Jacob told Rachel he was her father’s relative—Rebekah’s son—and she ran and told her father.
13 When Laban heard the news about the arrival of his sister’s son, Jacob, he ran to meet him. He hugged him and kissed him, and he brought Jacob to his house. Jacob told Laban everything.
Laban: 14 You are surely my flesh and bone!
And Jacob stayed with Laban for a month and helped out with all his livestock.
10 I wouldn’t want you to be ignorant of our history, brothers and sisters. Our ancestors were once safeguarded under a miraculous cloud in the wilderness and brought safely through the sea. 2 Enveloped in water by cloud and by sea, they were, you might say, ritually cleansed into Moses through baptism.[a] 3 Together they were sustained supernaturally: they all ate the same spiritual food, manna; 4 and they all drank the same spiritual water, flowing from a spiritual rock that was always with them, for the rock was the Anointed One, our Liberating King.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.