Psalm 81

Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.

1  Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2  Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3  Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.

4  For it is a statute for Israel,
a rulet of the God of Jacob.
5  He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out overt the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6  "I relieved yourt shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7  In 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
8  Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9  There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10  I 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 not submit to me.
12  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13  Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14  I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15  Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16  But he would feed yout with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Psalm 82

Rescue the Weak and Needy

A Psalm of Asaph.

1  God 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
3  Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4  Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

5  They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6  I said, "You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7  nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince."t

8  Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!

Psalm 83

O God, Do Not Keep Silence

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.

1  O God, do not keep silence;
do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2  For behold, your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate you have raised their heads.
3  They lay crafty plans against your people;
they consult together against your treasured ones.
4  They say, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!"
5  For they conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
6  the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7  Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8  Asshur also has joined them;
they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah

9  Do to them as you did to Midian,
as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
10  who were destroyed at En-dor,
who became dung for the ground.
11  Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12  who said, "Let us take possession for ourselves
of the pastures of God."

13  O my God, make them like whirling dust,t
like chaff before the wind.
14  As fire consumes the forest,
as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15  so may you pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane!
16  Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Lord.
17  Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace,
18  that they may know that you alone,
whose name is the Lord,
are the Most High over all the earth.