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81. Psalm 81

¹ Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
² Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
play the melodious harp and lyre.

    ³ Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,
   and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
⁴ this is a decree for Israel,
   an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
⁵ When 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.
⁷ In your distress you called and I rescued you,
   I answered you out of a thundercloud;
   I tested you at the waters of Meribah. The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
⁸ Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—
   if you would only listen to me, Israel!
⁹ You shall have no foreign god among you;
   you shall not worship any god other than me.
¹⁰ I am the LORD your God,
   who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

    ¹¹ “But my people would not listen to me;
   Israel would not submit to me.
¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
   to follow their own devices.

    ¹³ “If my people would only listen to me,
   if Israel would only follow my ways,
¹⁴ how quickly I would subdue their enemies
   and turn my hand against their foes!
¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
   and their punishment would last forever.
¹⁶ But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
   with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

9 Let there be no strange god ⁴¹⁴⁴¹⁴ “Heathen, or foreign god.” — Hammond. in thee. Here there is propounded the leading article of the covenant, and almost the whole sum of it, which is, that God alone must have the pre-eminence. Some may prefer this explanation: O Israel! if thou wilt hearken to me, there is nothing which I more strictly require or demand from thee than that thou shouldst be contented with me alone, and that thou shouldst not seek after strange gods: and of this opinion I am far from disapproving. God by this language undoubtedly confirms the truth which he so frequently inculcates elsewhere in the law and the prophets, that he is so jealous a God as not to allow another to be a partaker of the honor to which he alone is entitled. But at the same time he teaches us that true religious worship begins with obedience. The order which Moses observes is different, Exodus 20:2, 4, and Deuteronomy 5:6, 8. In these passages God sets out with declaring that he is the God of Israel; and then he forbids them to make for themselves any new gods. But here the prohibition is put first, and then the reason of it is subjoined, which is, that the people ought to be abundantly satisfied with the God who had purchased them to be his people. Perhaps also he sets this in the front to prepare the way for his obtaining the throne of their hearts. He would first withdraw the people from superstitions, as these must necessarily be plucked up and cleared away before true religion can take root in our hearts.