81:1 {To the chief Musician. Upon the Gittith. [A Psalm] of Asaph.} Sing ye joyously unto God our strength, shout aloud unto the God of Jacob;

81:2 Raise a song, and sound the tambour, the pleasant harp with the lute.

81:3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the set time, on our feast day:

81:4 For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob;

81:5 He ordained it in Joseph [for] a testimony, when he went forth over the land of Egypt, [where] I heard a language that I knew not.

81:6 I removed his shoulder from the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.

81:7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

81:8 Hear, my people, and I will testify unto thee; O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken unto me!

81:9 There shall no strange ∙god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any foreign ∙god.

81:10 I am Jehovah thy God, that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

81:11 But my people hearkened not to my voice, and Israel would none of me.

81:12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts` stubbornness: they walked after their own counsels.

81:13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, that Israel had walked in my ways!

81:14 I would soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

81:15 The haters of Jehovah would have come cringing unto him; but their time would have been for ever.