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Psalm 81 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Psa 81:1For the choir director: A psalm of Asaph, to be accompanied by a stringed instrument.[fn]

Sing praises to God, our strength.
Sing to the God of Jacob.
Psa 81:2Sing! Beat the tambourine.
Play the sweet lyre and the harp.
Psa 81:3Blow the ram’s horn at new moon,
and again at full moon to call a festival!
Psa 81:4For this is required by the decrees of Israel;
it is a regulation of the God of Jacob.
Psa 81:5He made it a law for Israel[fn]
when he attacked Egypt to set us free.
I heard an unknown voice say,
Psa 81:6“Now I will take the load from your shoulders;
I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
Psa 81:7You 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
Psa 81:8“Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings.
O Israel, if you would only listen to me!
Psa 81:9You must never have a foreign god;
you must not bow down before a false god.
Psa 81:10For 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.
Psa 81:11“But no, my people wouldn’t listen.
Israel did not want me around.
Psa 81:12So I let them follow their own stubborn desires,
living according to their own ideas.
Psa 81:13Oh, that my people would listen to me!
Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!
Psa 81:14How quickly I would then subdue their enemies!
How soon my hands would be upon their foes!
Psa 81:15Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him;
they would be doomed forever.
Psa 81:16But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”
NLT Footnotes
Hebrew according to the gittith.
Hebrew for Joseph.
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Psalm Chapter 81 — Additional Translations: