Psalm 81

Sing with joy to God our strength

and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.

Raise a song and sound the timbrel,

the merry harp, and the lyre.

Blow the ram's-horn at the new moon,

and at the full moon, the day of our feast.

For this is a statute for Israel,

a law of the God of Jacob.

He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph,

when he came out of the land of Egypt.

I heard an unfamiliar voice saying,

"I eased his shoulder from the burden; his hands were set free from bearing the load."

You called on me in trouble, and I saved you;

I answered you from the secret place of thunder and tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you:

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

There shall be no strange god among you;

you shall not worship a foreign god.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said,

"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."

And yet my people did not hear my voice,

and Israel would not obey me.

So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts,

to follow their own devices.

Oh, that my people would listen to me!

that Israel would walk in my ways!

I should soon subdue their enemies

and turn my hand against their foes.

Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,

and their punishment would last for ever.

But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat

and satisfy him with honey from the rock.