Psalms

Chapter 80

  1. 2

    Rejoice we all in honour of the God who aids us; cry out with gladness to the God of Jacob.

  2. 3

    Ring psaltery, and tambour, beat the harp, sweetly sounding, and the zither!

  3. 4

    A new month, and a full moon; blow the trumpet loud, to grace our festival!

  4. 5

    Duty demands it of Israel; the God of Jacob has decreed it,

  5. 6

    made it a law for Joseph, since the day he left Egypt, and gained the further shore. In a tongue unknown the message came to me;

  6. 7

    I have eased his shoulder of the burden, freed his hands from the slavery of the hod!

  7. 8

    Such deliverance I brought, when thou didst cry out to me in thy misery; gave thee audience under a canopy of cloud, and tested thee at the Waters of Rebellion.

  8. 9

    Give heed, my people, to this warning of mine; Israel, wouldst thou but listen!

  9. 10

    Then let no strange worship find a home with thee; never let thy knees be bowed to an alien God;

  10. 11

    am not I the Lord thy God, I, who rescued thee from Egypt? Open thy mouth wide, and thou shalt have thy fill.

  11. 12

    So I spoke, but my people would not listen; Israel went on unheeding,

  12. 13

    till I was fain to give their hard hearts free play, let them follow their own devices.

  13. 14

    Ah, if my people did but listen to me! Did Israel but take me for their guide!

  14. 15

    How lightly, then, would I bring their enemies low, smite down their persecutors!

  15. 16

    The very men that were once the Lord’s enemies would be cringing at his feet; such, for ever, should be their destiny;

  16. 17

    Israel should have full ears of wheat to nourish them, and honey dripping from the rock to their heart’s content.