Psalms 81

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it

Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob! ²Begin the music, strike the timbrel, play the melodious harp and lyre. ³Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival; ⁴this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵When God went out against Egypt, he established it as a statute for Joseph. I heard an unknown voice say: ⁶“I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket.a ⁷In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah.b

⁸Hear me, my people, and I will warn you— if you would only listen to me, Israel! ⁹You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me.c ¹⁰I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.d

¹¹“But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. ¹²So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.e ¹³“If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways,f ¹⁴how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!

¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. ¹⁶But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”g