Psalms

Sing for Joy to God Our Strength

1 For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. Of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.

2 Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

3 Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.

4 For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5 He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard an unfamiliar language:

6 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.

7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the cloud of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8 Hear, O My people, and I will warn you: O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!

9 There must be no strange god among you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god.

10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

11 But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.

12 So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

13 If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,

14 how soon I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes!

15 Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.

16 But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Footnotes:
81:1 Gittith is probably a musical or liturgical term; here and in Psalms 8 and 84.
81:5 Or in Joseph
81:7 Meribah means quarreling; see Exodus 17:7.