Psalm 81–83

Psalm 81

For the Chief Musician; set to the Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹Sing aloud unto God our strength:

Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

²Raise a song, and bring hither the timbrel,

The pleasant harp with the psaltery.

³Blow the trumpet at the new moon,

At the full moon, on our feast-day.

⁴For it is a statute for Israel,

An ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony,

When he went out over the land of Egypt,

Where I heard a language that I knew not.

⁶I removed his shoulder from the burden:

His hands were freed from the basket.

⁷Thou 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

⁸Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee:

O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken unto me!

⁹There shall no strange god be in thee;

Neither shalt thou worship any foreign god.

¹⁰I am Jehovah thy God,

Who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt:

Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹But my people hearkened not to my voice;

And Israel would none of me.

¹²So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart,

That they might walk in their own counsels.

¹³Oh that my people would hearken unto me,

That Israel would walk in my ways!

¹⁴I would soon subdue their enemies,

And turn my hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵The haters of Jehovah should submit themselves unto him:

But their time should endure for ever.

¹⁶He would feed them also with the finest of the wheat;

And with honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee.

Psalm 82

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹God standeth in the congregation of God;

He judgeth among the gods.

²How long will ye judge unjustly,

And respect the persons of the wicked? Selah

³Judge the poor and fatherless:

Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.

⁴Rescue the poor and needy:

Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.

⁵They know not, neither do they understand;

They walk to and fro in darkness:

All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶I said, Ye are gods,

And all of you sons of the Most High.

⁷Nevertheless ye shall die like men,

And fall like one of the princes.

⁸Arise, O God, judge the earth;

For thou shalt inherit all the nations.

Psalm 83

A Song, a Psalm of Asaph.

¹O God, keep not thou silence:

Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

²For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult;

And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

³They take crafty counsel against thy people,

And consult together against thy hidden ones.

⁴They have said,

Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;

That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

⁵For they have consulted together with one consent;

Against thee do they make a covenant:

⁶The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;

Moab, and the Hagarenes;

⁷Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;

Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre:

⁸Assyria also is joined with them;

They have helped the children of Lot. Selah

⁹Do thou unto them as unto Midian,

As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;

¹⁰Who perished at Endor,

Who became as dung for the earth.

¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb;

Yea, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna;

¹²Who said, Let us take to ourselves in possession

The habitations of God.

¹³O my God, make them like the whirling dust;

As stubble before the wind.

¹⁴As the fire that burneth the forest,

And as the flame that setteth the mountains on fire,

¹⁵So pursue them with thy tempest,

And terrify them with thy storm.

¹⁶Fill their faces with confusion,

That they may seek thy name, O Jehovah.

¹⁷Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever;

Yea, let them be confounded and perish;

¹⁸That they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah,

Art the Most High over all the earth.