Psalm 81–83

An Appeal from God to Israel

81For the music director; on the Gittith. Of Asaph.^a

¹Shout out to God our strength;

shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.

²Lift up a song and strike^b the tambourine,

the pleasant lyre, together with the harp.

³Blow the horn at new moon,

at full moon, for our feast day,

⁴because it is a statute for Israel,

an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵He made it a statute^c in Joseph

when he went out against the land of Egypt,

where I heard a language I did not know.^d

⁶“I removed his shoulder from a burden.

His hands were freed from the basket.

⁷In this^e trouble you called, and I rescued you.

Within the secret place of thunder I answered you;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

⁸Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you;

O Israel, if you would but listen to me.

⁹There shall be no strange god among you,

and you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

¹⁰I am Yahweh your God,

who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

¹¹But my people did not listen to my voice,

and Israel did not yield to me.

¹²So I let them^f go in the stubbornness of their heart;

they walked in their counsels.

¹³Oh that my people would listen to me;

that Israel would walk in my ways.

¹⁴I would subdue their enemies quickly,

and turn my hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵Those who hate Yahweh would cringe before him,

and their fate^g would be forever.

¹⁶But he would feed him^h from the choicest wheat,ⁱ

and I would satisfy you with honey from a rock.”

God Commands Justice

82A psalm of Asaph.^a

¹God stands in the divine assembly;^b

he administers judgment in the midst of the gods.^c

²“How long will you judge unjustly

and show favoritism to the wicked?^d Selah

³Judge on behalf of the helpless and the orphan;

provide justice to the afflicted and the poor.

⁴Rescue the helpless and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

⁵They do not know or consider.^e

They go about in the darkness,

so that all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶I have said,^f “You are gods,

and sons of the Most High, all of you.

⁷However, you will die like men,^g

and you will fall like one of the princes.”

⁸Rise up, O God, judge the earth,

because you shall inherit^h all the nations.

A Request to Act against Israel’s Neighbors

83A song. A psalm of Asaph.^a

¹O God, do not rest silently.

Do not keep silent or be still, O God.

²For look, your enemies roar,

and those who hate you have lifted their head.

³They devise cunning schemes^b against your people,

and consult together against your protected ones.^c

⁴They say, “Come, let us annihilate them from being a nation,

so that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

⁵For they have consulted together with a unified purpose.^d

They have made a covenant against you:

⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,

Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.

⁸Assyria also has joined with them.

They provide help^e to the children of Lot. Selah

⁹Do to them as you did with Midian,

as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the wadi of Kishon.

¹⁰They were destroyed at En-dor;

they became dung for the ground.

¹¹Make their leaders like Oreb and Zeeb,

and all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹²who said, “Let us take as our possession

the pastures of God.”

¹³O my God, make them like the tumbleweed,

like the chaff before wind.

¹⁴As fire burns a forest,

and as a flame sets afire mountains,

¹⁵so pursue them with your tempest

and terrify them with your storm.

¹⁶Fill their faces with shame,

that they may seek your name, O Yahweh.

¹⁷Let them be ashamed and terrified forever,

and let them be humiliated and perish

¹⁸that they may know that you,

whose name is Yahweh, you alone,

are the Most High over the whole earth.