Psalms 81

Festival Praise, Covenant Hearing, and the God Who Longs to Satisfy His People

The psalm moves from loud festival summons, to covenant statute and exodus memory, into a first-person divine oracle recalling deliverance, warning against foreign gods, exposing Israel's refusal, and ending with God's yearning promise of victory and satisfaction if His people would listen and walk in His ways.

World English Bible, Public Domain

1 Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!

2 Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp.

3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.

4 For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5 He appointed it in Joseph for a covenant, when he went out over the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I didn’t know.

6 “I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket.

7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.”

8 “Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me!

9 There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god.

10 I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.

12 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.

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

14 I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries.

15 The haters of Yahweh would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.

16 But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”

Key Terms

רנן ranan H7442
עֹז oz H5797
יַעֲקֹב Yaʿaqov H3290
רוע ruaʿ H7321
זִמְרָה zimrah H2172
תֹּף toph H8596
כִּנּוֹר kinnor H3658
נֵבֶל nevel H5035
שׁוֹפָר shofar H7782
חֹדֶשׁ chodesh H2320
כֵּסֶה keseh H3677
חַג chag H2282

World English Bible (WEB): Public Domain Scripture text · License details