Psalms

Acclaim God, Our Strength

Sing joyfully to God, our strength; acclaim aloud the God of Jacob.

Start the music, strike the timbrel, play melodies on the harp and lyre.

Sound the trumpet at the new moon, on our feast day, when the moon is full.

This is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob,

a statute he wrote for Joseph when he went out of Egypt. They heard a voice they did not know: “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it,

I relieved your shoulder from burden; I freed your hands.

You called in distress, and I saved you; unseen, I answered you in thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Hear, my people, as I admonish you. If only you would listen, O Israel!

There shall be no strange god among you, you shall not worship any alien god,

for I, the Lord, am your God, who led you forth from the land of Egypt.

But my people did not listen; Israel did not obey.

So I gave them over to their stubbornness and they followed their own counsels.

If only my people would listen, if only Israel would walk in my ways,

I would quickly subdue their adversaries and turn my hand against their enemies.

Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their panic would last forever.

I would feed you with the finest wheat and satisfy you with honey from the rock.”