Psalm 81–83

PSALM 81

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹Sing aloud to God our strength;

shout for joy to the God of Jacob!

²Raise a song, sound the timbrel,

the sweet lyre with the harp.

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 made it a decree in Joseph,

when he went out over^m the land of Egypt.

I hear a voice I had not known:

⁶“I relieved yourⁿ shoulder of the burden;

your hands were freed from the basket.

⁷In distress you called, and I delivered you;

I answered you in the secret place of thunder;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

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

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

⁹There shall be no strange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

¹⁰I am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

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

Israel would have none of me.

¹²So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,

to follow their own counsels.

¹³O that my people would listen to me,

that Israel would walk in my ways!

¹⁴I would soon subdue their enemies,

and turn my hand against their foes.

¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,

and their fate would last for ever.

¹⁶I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,

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

PSALM 82

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹God has taken his place in the divine council;

in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

²“How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

³Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;

maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

⁴Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

⁵They have neither knowledge nor understanding,

they walk about in darkness;

all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶I say, “You are gods,

sons of the Most High, all of you;

⁷nevertheless, you shall die like men,

and fall like any prince.”^p

⁸Arise, O God, judge the earth;

for to thee belong all the nations!

PSALM 83

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹O God, do not keep silence;

do not hold thy peace or be still, O God!

²For lo, thy enemies are in tumult;

those who hate thee have raised their heads.

³They lay crafty plans against thy people;

they consult together against thy protected ones.

⁴They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;

let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

⁵Yea, they conspire with one accord;

against thee they make a covenant—

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 them;

they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah

⁹Do to them as thou didst to Midian,

as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

¹⁰who were destroyed at En-dor,

who became dung for the ground.

¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹²who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves

of the pastures of God.”

¹³O my God, make them like whirling dust,

like chaff before the wind.

¹⁴As fire consumes the forest,

as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

¹⁵so do thou pursue them with thy tempest

and terrify them with thy hurricane!

¹⁶Fill their faces with shame,

that they may seek thy name, O Lord.

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

let them perish in disgrace.

¹⁸Let them know that thou alone,

whose name is the Lord,

art the Most High over all the earth.