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 81:2

Psa 81:2Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.

Psa 81:3

Psa 81:3Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.

Psa 81:4

Psa 81:4For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule[fn] of the God of Jacob.

Psa 81:5

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

Psa 81:6“I relieved your[fn] shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.

Psa 81:7

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 81:8

Psa 81:8Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

Psa 81:9

Psa 81:9There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

Psa 81:10

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

Psa 81:11“But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.

Psa 81:12

Psa 81:12So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.

Psa 81:13

Psa 81:13Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!

Psa 81:14

Psa 81:14I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.

Psa 81:15

Psa 81:15Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.

Psa 81:16

Psa 81:16But he would feed you[fn] with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(81:1)

Probably a musical or liturgical term

(81:4)

Or just decree

(81:5)

Or against

(81:6)

Hebrew his; also next line

(81:16)

That is, Israel; Hebrew him

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.