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⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law!
   It is my meditation all day long.
⁹⁸ Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
   for it is always with me.
⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers,
   for your decrees are my meditation.
¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged,
   for I keep your precepts.
¹⁰¹ I hold back my feet from every evil way,
   in order to keep your word.
¹⁰² I do not turn away from your ordinances,
   for you have taught me.
¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
   sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ Through your precepts I get understanding;
   therefore I hate every false way.

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet
   and a light to my path.
¹⁰⁶ I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
   to observe your righteous ordinances.
¹⁰⁷ I am severely afflicted;
   give me life, O Lord, according to your word.
¹⁰⁸ Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord,
   and teach me your ordinances.
¹⁰⁹ I hold my life in my hand continually,
   but I do not forget your law.
¹¹⁰ The wicked have laid a snare for me,
   but I do not stray from your precepts.
¹¹¹ Your decrees are my heritage for ever;
   they are the joy of my heart.
¹¹² I incline my heart to perform your statutes
   for ever, to the end.

¹¹³ I hate the double-minded,
   but I love your law.
¹¹⁴ You are my hiding-place and my shield;
   I hope in your word.
¹¹⁵ Go away from me, you evildoers,
   that I may keep the commandments of my God.
¹¹⁶ Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
   and let me not be put to shame in my hope.
¹¹⁷ Hold me up, that I may be safe
   and have regard for your statutes continually.
¹¹⁸ You spurn all who go astray from your statutes;
   for their cunning is in vain.
¹¹⁹ All the wicked of the earth you count as dross;
   therefore I love your decrees.
¹²⁰ My flesh trembles for fear of you,
   and I am afraid of your judgements.

Psalm 81

God’s Appeal to Stubborn Israel

To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
¹ Sing aloud to God our strength;
   shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
² Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
   the sweet lyre with the harp.
³ Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
   at the full moon, on our festal day.
⁴ For it is a statute for Israel,
   an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
⁵ He 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.
⁷ In 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
⁸ Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
   O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
⁹ There shall be no strange god among you;
   you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
¹⁰ I am the Lord your God,
   who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
   Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

¹¹ ‘But my people did not listen to my voice;
   Israel would not submit to me.
¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
   to follow their own counsels.
¹³ O that my people would listen to me,
   that Israel would walk in my ways!
¹⁴ Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
   and turn my hand against their foes.
¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
   and their doom would last for ever.
¹⁶ I would feed you^* with the finest of the wheat,
   and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.’

Psalm 82

A Plea for Justice

A Psalm of Asaph.
¹ God has taken his place in the divine council;
   in the midst of the gods he holds judgement:
² ‘How long will you judge unjustly
   and show partiality to the wicked?
          Selah
³ Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
   maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy;
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’

⁵ They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
   they walk around in darkness;
   all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶ I say, ‘You are gods,
   children of the Most High, all of you;
⁷ nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,
   and fall like any prince.’^*

⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
   for all the nations belong to you!