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81
For the music director. On the gittith. A psalm of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2 Start the song! Play the tambourine, sweet-sounding lyre, and harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, and at full moon, to begin our festivals,
4 for this is a rule for Israel, a regulation of the God of Jacob.
5 God made this statute for Joseph when he opposed the land of Egypt. I heard a voice I didn't know, saying:* Meaning unclear. Literally, “I hear lips I do not know.”
6 “I took the load from your shoulders; I freed your hands from carrying heavy baskets.
7 In your suffering you cried out to me, and I saved you. I answered you from the thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.† See Exodus 17. Selah.
8 My people, listen to my warnings! Israel, please listen to me!
9 There must not be a strange god among you; you must never bow down to foreign gods and worship them.
10 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.‡ In other words God will supply all their needs.
11 But my people didn't listen to me. Israel didn't want anything to do with me.
12 So I sent them away to follow their stubborn thinking, living as they chose.
13 If only my people would listen to me; if only Israel would follow my ways!
14 It wouldn't take me long to conquer their enemies, to strike down their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, forever doomed.
16 But I would feed you the best wheat and satisfy you with honey from the rock.”

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*81:5 Meaning unclear. Literally, “I hear lips I do not know.”

†81:7 See Exodus 17.

‡81:10 In other words God will supply all their needs.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher