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Psalm 81 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

Psa 81:1To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.[fn] Of Asaph.
Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
Psa 81:2Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
Psa 81:3Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.
Psa 81:4For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule[fn] of the God of Jacob.
Psa 81:5He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over[fn] the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
Psa 81:6“I relieved your[fn] shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
Psa 81:7In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
Psa 81:8Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
Psa 81:9There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
Psa 81:10I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
Psa 81:11“But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
Psa 81:12So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
Psa 81:13Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
Psa 81:14I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
Psa 81:15Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
Psa 81:16But he would feed you[fn] with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
ESV Footnotes
Probably a musical or liturgical term
Or just decree
Or against
Hebrew his; also next line
That is, Israel; Hebrew him
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Psalm Chapter 81 — Additional Translations: