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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.”

8 Hear, O my people! The more effectually to touch the hearts of the people, God is here invested with the character of a teacher, and introduced as speaking familiarly in the midst of the congregation; and this is done for the purpose of instructing them, that all assemblies are unprofitable and trifling in which the voice of God stirring up men to faith and true godliness is not uttered. But let us proceed to the consideration of the words. This preface was intended to teach in a few words, that festival days were not purely and rightly observed unless the people listened with attention to the voice of God. In order to consecrate their hands, feet, eyes, and their whole persons, to his service, it behoved them, in the first place, to open their ears to his voice. Thus the lesson is taught that he acknowledges as his servants those only who are disposed to become learners. By the word protest he intimates that he covenants after a solemn manner, thereby to give his words the greater authority. The clause which follows, O Israel! if thou wilt hearken to me, is, I presume, an abrupt expression, similar to what is frequently employed in pathetic discourses, the ellipse serving to express the greater earnestness. Some connect it with the following verse in this way, O Israel! if thou wilt hearken to me, there will be no strange god in thee But it is rather to be viewed as the language of regret on the part of God. He indirectly intimates that he distrusts this obstinate and rebellious people, and can hardly indulge the hope that they will prove obedient and teachable.