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About this chapterA festival song calling Israel to sing, play tambourine and harp, and blow the trumpet at the appointed feast. Then God himself speaks, recalling how he freed them from Egypt and answered them in trouble, and inviting them to open their mouths so he can fill them. Yet the people did not listen, and he let them follow their own stubborn ways. God laments what could have been: if they would only listen, he would quickly subdue their enemies and feed them with the finest wheat and honey from the rock.

A festival song calling Israel to sing, play tambourine and harp, and blow the trumpet at the appointed feast. Then God himself speaks, recalling how he freed them from Egypt and answered them in trouble, and inviting them to open their mouths so he can fill them. Yet the people did not listen, and he let them follow their own stubborn ways. God laments what could have been: if they would only listen, he would quickly subdue their enemies and feed them with the finest wheat and honey from the rock.

Themes

  • Festival joy
  • Listening to God
  • What obedience could bring

Key verses

Audio Bible · Psalms 81

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Psalms 81

Berean Standard Bible16 verses · 1 min read

1Sing for joy to God our strength; make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob. 2Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre. 3Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast. 4For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. 5He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard an unfamiliar language: 6“I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket. 7You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the cloud of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah 8Hear, O My people, and I will warn you: O Israel, if only you would listen to Me! 9There must be no strange god among you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god. 10I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it. 11But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me. 12So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. 13If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways, 14how soon I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes! 15Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever. 16But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Verses in Psalms 81

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