Psalms 81

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it

Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Jacob. ²Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp. ³Blow the ram’s horn at new moon, and again at full moon to call a festival!

⁴For this is required by the decrees of Israel; it is a regulation of the God of Jacob. ⁵He made it a law for Israel when he attacked Egypt to set us free. I heard an unknown voice say, ⁶“Now I will take the load from your shoulders; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.a

⁷You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. Interludeb ⁸“Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen to me! ⁹You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god.c

¹⁰For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.d ¹¹“But no, my people wouldn’t listen. Israel did not want me around. ¹²So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas.e

¹³Oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!f ¹⁴How quickly I would then subdue their enemies! How soon my hands would be upon their foes! ¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him; they would be doomed forever.

¹⁶But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”g