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The Book of Psalms

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- Chapter 81 -

Sing for joy to God

1
Unto the end. For the wine and oil presses. A Psalm of Asaph himself.(a)
2
Exult before God our helper. Sing joyfully to the God of Jacob.
3
Take up a psalm, and bring forth the timbrel: a pleasing Psalter with stringed instruments.(b)
4
Sound the trumpet at the new moon, on the noteworthy day of your solemnity,
5
for it is a precept in Israel and a judgment for the God of Jacob.
6
He set it as a testimony with Joseph, when he went out of the land of Egypt. He heard a tongue that he did not know.
7
He turned the burdens away from his back. His hands had been a slave to baskets.
8
You called upon me in tribulation, and I freed you. I heard you within the hidden tempest. I tested you with waters of contradiction.(c)
9
My people, listen and I will call you to testify. If, O Israel, you will pay heed to me,
10
then there will be no new god among you, nor will you adore a foreign god.
11
For I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt. Widen your mouth, and I will fill it.
12
But my people did not hear my voice, and Israel was not attentive to me.
13
And so, I sent them away, according to the desires of their heart. They will go forth according to their own inventions.
14
If my people had heard me, if Israel had walked in my ways,
15
I would have humbled their enemies, as if it were nothing, and I would have sent my hand upon those who troubled them.(d)
16
The enemies of the Lord have lied to him, and their time will come, in every age.(e) (f)
17
And he fed them from the fat of the grain, and he saturated them with honey from the rock.

Footnotes

(a)80:1 For the winepresses, etc:Torcularibus. It either signifies a musical instrument, or that this psalm was to be sung at the feast of the tabernacles after the gathering in of the vintage.(Challoner)
(b)80:3 Even though the word ‘psalterium’ literally refers to an ancient type of musical instrument, it was used to accompany psalms and hymns. Therefore, the word also indirectly refers to the Psalter, that is, to the psalms and particularly to the psalms when they are sung or chanted or accompanied by music. The less literal translation is more meaningful.(Conte)
(c)80:8 In the secret place of tempest:Heb., Of thunder. When you sought to hide yourself from the tempest: or, when I came down to mount Sina, hidden from your eyes in a storm of thunder.(Challoner)
(d)80:15 Or, ‘perhaps for nothing, I would have humbled their enemies.’(Conte)
(e)80:16 Or, ‘and time will be theirs forever.’ The wicked never experience the timelessness of eternity. They will be trapped in the cycle of time, within the fires of Hell, without ceasing.(Conte)
(f)80:16 Their time shall be forever:Impenitent sinners shall suffer for ever.(Challoner)

Sing for joy to God

1
Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!
2
Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp.
3
Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
4
For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5
He appointed it in Joseph for a covenant, when he went out over the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I didn’t know.
6
“I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket.
7
You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.” Selah.
8
“Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me!
9
There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god.
10
I am the LORD, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11
But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.
12
So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.
13
Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
14
I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries.
15
The haters of the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.
16
But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”
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