BDJ
Español
English
Psalms 81
Of Asaph
1 Shout for joy to honour God our strength, shout to acclaim the God of Jacob!
2 Start the music, sound the drum, the melodious lyre and the harp;
3 sound the New Moon trumpet, at the full moon, on our feastday!
4 This is a statute binding on Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob,
5 this decree he imposed on Joseph when he went to war against Egypt. I can hear a voice I no longer recognise,
6 ‘It was I who relieved your shoulder of the burden, your hands could drop the labourer’s basket;
7 you called in your trouble, so I rescued you. ‘Hidden in the storm, I answered you, I tested you at the waters of Meribah. (pause)
8 Listen, you are my people, let me warn you. Israel, if you would only listen to me!
9 ‘Tolerate no foreign god, worship no alien god;
10 I, Yahweh, am your God, I who brought you here from Egypt; you have only to open your mouth for me to fill it.
11 ‘My people refused to listen to me, Israel refused to obey me,
12 so I left them to their stubborn selves to do whatever they pleased.
13 ‘If only my people would listen, if Israel would follow my ways,
14 at one blow I would defeat their enemies and strike at all who attack them.
15 ‘Then those who hate Yahweh would cringe, their doom being sealed for ever;
16 while I would feed you on pure wheat and satisfy you with the wild rock honey.’