Psalm 81 | Liturgical Calendar

1

Sing with joy to God our strength *

and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.

2

Raise a song and sound the timbrel, *

the merry harp, and the lyre.

3

Blow the ram’s-horn at the new moon, *

and at the full moon, the day of our feast.

4

For this is a statute for Israel, *

a law of the God of Jacob.

5

He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph, *

when he came out of the land of Egypt.

6

I heard an unfamiliar voice saying *

“I eased his shoulder from the burden;

his hands were set free from bearing the load.”

7

You called on me in trouble, and I saved you; *

I answered you from the secret place of thunder

and tested you at the waters of Meribah.

8

Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: *

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

9

There shall be no strange god among you; *

you shall not worship a foreign god.

10

I am the Lord your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, *

“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”

11

And yet my people did not hear my voice, *

and Israel would not obey me.

12

So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts, *

to follow their own devices.

13

Oh, that my people would listen to me! *

that Israel would walk in my ways!

14

I should soon subdue their enemies *

and turn my hand against their foes.

15

Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, *

and their punishment would last for ever.

16

But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat *

and satisfy him with honey from the rock.