Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

81 To the choirmaster: according to fThe Gittith.1 Of gAsaph.

1  hSing aloud to God our strength;

ishout for joy to the God of Jacob!

2  Raise a song; sound jthe tambourine,

kthe sweet lyre with kthe harp.

3  Blow the trumpet at lthe new moon,

at the full moon, on our feast day.

4  For it is a statute for Israel,

a rule2 of the God of Jacob.

5  He made it ma decree in nJoseph

when he owent out over3 the land of Egypt.

pI hear a language qI had not known:

6  “I rrelieved your4 shoulder of sthe burden;

your hands were freed from the basket.

7  In distress you tcalled, and I delivered you;

I uanswered you in the secret place of thunder;

I vtested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8  wHear, O my people, while I admonish you!

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

9  There shall be no xstrange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a yforeign god.

10  zI am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

aOpen your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11  “But my people did not listen to my voice;

Israel bwould not submit to me.

12  So I cgave them over to their dstubborn hearts,

to follow their own ecounsels.

13  fOh, that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would gwalk in my ways!

14  I would soon subdue their enemies

and hturn my hand against their foes.

15  Those who hate the Lord would icringe toward him,

and their fate would last forever.

16  But he would feed you5 with jthe finest of the wheat,

and with khoney from the rock I would satisfy you.”