Sing for Joy to God Our Strength 1 UST Sing joyfully to God, who makes us strong! Shout with joy to the God whom we Israelites worship! BSB BSB: For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. Of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.
2 UST Start playing music! Beat tambourines and play lyres and pleasant- sounding harps. BSB BSB: Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.
3 UST Blow a ram’ s horn for the new- moon festival{ each month} and on the day of the full moon when the Festival of Shelters begins. BSB BSB: Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.
4 UST Do this because the God whom we Israelite people worship has commanded us to do it. BSB BSB: For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 UST God told our ancestors to observe these festivals when he delivered them from slavery to the Egyptians, a people whose language they did not understand. BSB BSB: He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard an unfamiliar language:
6 UST { Yahweh says,}“They had to hold on to heavy baskets full of bricks as they carried them on their shoulders, but I freed them from doing that. BSB BSB: “I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.
7 UST When they were suffering, they cried to me for help, and I rescued them.{ At Mount Sinai,} I spoke to them from dark clouds{ and gave them laws}. Then I saw whether they trusted me when they complained at Meribah that they had no water. Selah BSB BSB: You 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
8 UST Listen to me, my people, while I warn you! I wish that you Israelites would pay attention to me! BSB BSB: Hear, O My people, and I will warn you: O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!
9 UST You must not make any idols that represent any of the gods that other nations worship. You must never bow down to worship any of those gods. BSB BSB: There must be no strange god among you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god.
10 UST I am Yahweh your God. I am the one who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. If you depend on me, I will provide everything that you need. BSB BSB: I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.
11 UST However, my people would not listen to what I said; the Israelites refused to obey me. BSB BSB: But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.
12 UST So I let them do whatever they stubbornly wanted to do; they did whatever they had decided to do. BSB BSB: So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
13 UST I wish that my people would obey me! Yes, I wish that the Israelites would live the way I want them to! BSB BSB: If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,
14 UST Then I would use my power against those who are opposing them, and I would easily defeat their enemies. BSB BSB: how soon I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes!
15 UST Then those who had rebelled against Yahweh would bow down fearfully in front of him{ to submit to his authority}. But the Israelites would always prosper. BSB BSB: Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.
16 UST I would make their fields produce abundant crops, and they would even find all the honey they wanted in wild bee hives in rocky places.” BSB BSB: But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.