81:1 SING ALOUD to God our Strength! Shout for joy to the God of Jacob! |
81:2 Raise a song, sound the timbrel, the sweet lyre with the harp. |
81:3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. |
81:4 For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. |
81:5 This He ordained in Joseph [the savior] for a testimony when He went out over the land of Egypt. The speech of One Whom I knew not did I hear [saying], |
81:6 I removed his shoulder from the burden; his hands were freed from the basket. |
81:7 You called in distress and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! |
81:8 Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you--O Israel, if you would listen to Me! |
81:9 There shall no strange god be among you, neither shall you worship any alien god. |
81:10 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. |
81:11 But My people would not hearken to My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. |
81:12 So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust {and} let them go after their own stubborn will, that they might follow their own counsels. |
81:13 Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! |
81:14 Speedily then I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their adversaries. |
81:15 [Had Israel listened to Me in Egypt, then] those who hated the Lord would have come cringing before Him, and their defeat would have lasted forever. |
81:16 [God] would feed [Israel now] also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock would I satisfy you. |