Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PSALM 81, by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PSALM 81, by                    
First Line: To god our strength sing loud, and clear
Last Line: With honey for their meat.


1 To God our strength sing loud, and clear,
Sing loud to God our King,
To Jacob's God, that all may hear
Loud acclamations ring.
2 Prepare a hymn, prepare a song,
The timbrel hither bring;
The cheerful psaltery bring along
And harp with pleasant string;
3 Blow, as is wont, in the new moon
With trumpets' lofty sound,
Th' appointed time, the day whereon
Our solemn feast comes round.
4 This was a statute giv'n of old
For Israel to observe,
A law of Jacob's God, to hold
From whence they might not swerve.
5 This he a testimony ordained
In Joseph, not to change,
When as he passed through Egypt land;
The tongue I heard, was strange.
6 From burden, and from slavish toil
I set his shoulder free;
His hands from pots, and miry soil
Delivered were by me.
7 When trouble did thee sore assail,
On me then didst thou call,
And I to free thee did not fail,
And led thee out of thrall.
I answered thee in thunder deep
With clouds encompassed round;
I tried thee at the water steep
Of Meriba renowned.
8 Hear O my people, hearken well,
I testify to thee
Thou ancient stock of Israel,
If thou wilt list to me,
9 Throughout the land of thy abode
No alien god shall be,
Nor shalt thou to a foreign god
In honour bend thy knee.
10 I am the Lord thy God which brought
Thee out of Egypt land;
Ask large enough, and I, besought,
Will grant thy full demand.
11 And yet my people would not hear,
Nor hearken to my voice;
And Israel whom I loved so dear
Misliked me for his choice.
12 Then did I leave them to their will
And to their wand'ring mind;
Their own conceits they followed still,
Their own devices blind.
13 O that my people would be wise
To serve me all their days,
And O that Israel would advise
To walk my righteous ways.
14 Then would I soon bring down their foes
That now so proudly rise,
And turn my hand against all those
That are their enemies.
15 Who hate the Lord should then be fain
To bow to him and bend,
But they, his people, should remain,
Their time should have no end.
16 And we would feed them from the shock
With flour of finest wheat,
And satisfy them from the rock
With honey for their meat.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net