Psalm 81, side by side

¹For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. Of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.

¹Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

²Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

²Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

³Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.

³Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

⁴For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁴For this was a statute for Israel, and a law 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:

⁵This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

⁶“I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.

⁶I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.

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

⁷Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

⁸Hear, O My people, and I will warn you: O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!

⁸Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

⁹There must be no strange god among you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god.

⁹There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

¹⁰I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

¹⁰I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.

¹¹But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

¹²So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

¹²So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

¹³If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,

¹³Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

¹⁴how soon I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes!

¹⁴I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.

¹⁵The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.

¹⁶But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

¹⁶He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.