Psalm 81

God’s Appeal to Stubborn Israel

To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
¹Sing aloud to God our strength;
   shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
²Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
   the sweet lyre with the harp.
³Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
   at the full moon, on our festal day.
⁴For it is a statute for Israel,
   an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
⁵He made it a decree in Joseph,
   when he went out over^* the land of Egypt.

I hear a voice I had not known:
⁶‘I relieved your^* shoulder of the burden;
   your^* hands were freed from the basket.
⁷In distress you called, and I rescued you;
   I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
   I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
          Selah
⁸Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
   O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
⁹There shall be no strange god among you;
   you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
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.