Psalms 81 – Open Thy Mouth Wide and I Will Fill It
A festival call to worship that recalls Israel's deliverance.
This chapter of the Psalms overview calls for trumpets and timbrels at the new moon feast, turning the restored vine of Psalms 80 into a summons to celebrate God's past deliverance from Egypt.
Shout ye for joy, unto God our strength, Sound the note of triumph, to the God of Jacob;
Raise a melody, and strike the timbrel, The lyre so sweet, with the harp:
Blow, at the new moon, the horn, At the full moon, for the day of our sacred festival:
For, a statute to Israel, it is, A regulation, by the God of Jacob;
A testimony in Joseph, he appointed it, When he went forth over the land of Egypt: A language I liked not, used I to hear;
I took away, from the burden, his shoulder, his hands, from the clay, were set free.
In distress, thou didst cry, and I delivered thee,—I answered thee, within a hiding-place of thunder, I proved thee by the waters of Meribah. [Selah.]
Hear, O my people, and I will adjure thee, O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me!
There shall not be, within thee, a foreign GOD,—Neither shalt thou bow down to a strange GOD:
I, Yahweh, am thy God, Who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,—Open wide thy mouth, that I may fill it.
But my people, hearkened not, unto my voice, Even, Israel, inclined not unto me.
So then I let them go on in the stubbornness of their own heart,[—] They might walk in their own counsels!
If, my people, were hearkening unto me, [If,] Israel, in my ways, would walk,
Right soon, their foes, would I subdue, And, against their adversaries, would I turn my hand:
The haters of Yahweh, should come cringing unto him, Then let their own good time be age-abiding!
Then would he feed them from the marrow of the wheat, Yea, out of the rock—with honey, would I satisfy thee.