Lord, grant me the grace of an ever-faithful heart.

Ring out your joy to God our strength, 
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.

Raise a song and sound the timbrel, 
the sweet-sounding harp and the lute,
blow the trumpet at the new moon, 
when the moon is full, on our feast.

For this is Israel’s law, 
a command of the God of Jacob.
He imposed it as a rule on Joseph, 
when he went out against the land of Egypt.

A voice I did not know said to me: 
“I freed your shoulder from the burden;
your hands were freed from the load. 
You called in distress and I saved you.

I answered, concealed in the storm cloud, 
at the waters of Meribah I tested you.
Listen, my people, to my warning, 
O Israel, if only you would heed!

Let there be no foreign god among you,
no worship of an alien god. 
I am the Lord your God, †
who brought you from the land of Egypt. 
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

But my people did not heed my voice 
and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart 
to follow their own designs.

O that my people would heed me, 
that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes, 
turn my hand against their enemies.

The Lord’s enemies would cringe at their feet 
and their subjection would last for ever.
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat 
and fill them with honey from the rock.”

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, 
and will be for ever. Amen.
~Psalm 81

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