Psalm 81 For the choir director: A psalm of Asaph, to be accompanied by a stringed instrument.

1 Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Jacob.
2 Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp.
3 Blow the ram's horn at new moon, and again at full moon to call a festival!
4 For this is required by the decrees of Israel; it is a regulation of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a law for Israel when he attacked Egypt to set us free. I heard an unknown voice say,
6 "Now I will take the load from your shoulders; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
7 You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah.

Interlude

8 "Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen to me!
9 You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god.
10 For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.
11 "But no, my people wouldn't listen. Israel did not want me around.
12 So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!
14 How quickly I would then subdue their enemies! How soon my hands would be upon their foes!
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him; they would be doomed forever.
16 But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock."

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