Psalm 81–83

A Song for a Holiday

For the director of music. By the gittith. A psalm of Asaph.

81Sing for joy to God, our strength;

shout out loud to the God of Jacob.

²Begin the music. Play the tambourines.

Play pleasant music on the harps and lyres.

³Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon,

when the moon is full, when our feast begins.

⁴This is the law for Israel;

it is the command of the God of Jacob.

⁵He gave this rule to the people of Joseph

when they went out of the land of Egypt.

I heard a language I did not know, saying:

⁶“I took the load off their shoulders;

I let them put down their baskets.

⁷When you were in trouble, you called, and I saved you.

I answered you with thunder.

I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Selah

⁸My people, listen. I am warning you.

Israel, please listen to me!

⁹You must not have foreign gods;

you must not worship any false god.

¹⁰I, the Lord, am your God,

who brought you out of Egypt.

Open your mouth and I will feed you.

¹¹“But my people did not listen to me;

Israel did not want me.

¹²So I let them go their stubborn way

and follow their own advice.

¹³I wish my people would listen to me;

I wish Israel would live my way.

¹⁴Then I would quickly defeat their enemies

and turn my hand against their foes.

¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would bow before him.

Their punishment would continue forever.

¹⁶But I would give you the finest wheat

and fill you with honey from the rocks.”

A Cry for Justice

A psalm of Asaph.

82God is in charge of the great meeting;

he judges among the “gods.”

²He says, “How long will you defend evil people?

How long will you show greater kindness to the wicked?

Selah

³Defend the weak and the orphans;

defend the rights of the poor and suffering.

⁴Save the weak and helpless;

free them from the power of the wicked.

⁵“You know nothing. You don’t understand.

You walk in the dark,

while the world is falling apart.

⁶I said, ‘You are “gods.”

You are all sons of God Most High.’

⁷But you will die like any other person;

you will fall like all the leaders.”

⁸God, come and judge the earth,

because you own all the nations.

A Prayer Against the Enemies

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

83God, do not keep quiet;

God, do not be silent or still.

²Your enemies are making noises;

those who hate you are getting ready to attack.

³They are making secret plans against your people;

they plot against those you love.

⁴They say, “Come, let’s destroy them as a nation.

Then no one will ever remember the name ‘Israel.’ ”

⁵They are united in their plan.

These have made an agreement against you:

⁶the families of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷the people of Byblos, Ammon, Amalek,

Philistia, and Tyre.

⁸Even Assyria has joined them

to help Ammon and Moab, the descendants of Lot.

Selah

⁹God, do to them what you did to Midian,

what you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.

¹⁰They died at Endor,

and their bodies rotted on the ground.

¹¹Do to their important leaders what you did to Oreb and Zeeb.

Do to their princes what you did to Zebah and Zalmunna.

¹²They said, “Let’s take for ourselves

the pasturelands that belong to God.”

¹³My God, make them like tumbleweed,

like chaff blown away by the wind.

¹⁴Be like a fire that burns a forest

or like flames that blaze through the hills.

¹⁵Chase them with your storm,

and frighten them with your wind.

¹⁶Cover them with shame.

Then people will look for you, Lord.

¹⁷Make them afraid and ashamed forever.

Disgrace them and destroy them.

¹⁸Then they will know that you are the Lord,

that only you are God Most High over all the earth.