Bible Strands
Psalms 81:13
If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses Israel through the psalmist, issuing a conditional wish immediately after declaring He has abandoned them to their own stubborn devices.
The words — The Hebrew particle לוּ (lu) marks a strong conditional or optative clause, while the verb שֹׁמֵעַ (shomea) literally denotes active listening or heeding.
The thread — This conditional structure appears in Deuteronomy 5:29 and Isaiah 48:18, where the text states that obedience precedes divine blessing before drawing the inference that covenant faithfulness remains the condition for stability.
Why it lands — The verse demands immediate attention and obedient action rather than passive religious observance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 5:29 If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.
- Isaiah 48:18 If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.
- Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
- Luke 19:41 As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it
- Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
- Deuteronomy 32:29 If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.