Psalm 81-Song of Joy

Ring out your joy to God our strength,*
    shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.

Raise a song and sound the timbrel,*
    the sweet-sounding harp and the lute;
blow the trumpet at the new moon,*
    when the moon is full, on our feast.

For this is Israel's law,*
    a command of the God of Jacob.
imposed as a law on Joseph's people,*
    when they went out against the land of Egypt.

A voice I did not know said to me:*
    "I freed your shoulder from the burden;
your hands were freed from the load.*
    You called in distress and I saved you.

"I answered, concealed in the storm cloud;*
    at the waters of Meribah I tested you.
Listen, my people, to my warning.*
    O Israel, if only you would heed!

"Let there be no foreign god among you,*
    no worship of an alien god.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you from the land
of Egypt.*
    Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

"But my people did not heed my voice*
    and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart*
    to follow their own designs.

"O that my people would heed me,*
    that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,*
    turn my hand against their enemies.

"The LORD's enemies would cringe at their feet*
    and their subjection would last for ever.
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat*
    and fill them with honey from the rock."