Read
Psalm 81:11
But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.
9There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god.
10I am the LORD, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.
12So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.
13Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
Notice
God names Israel as his people even as he names their refusal to hear him, exposing a breach within an existing bond.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What distinction do you see between listening to God's voice and wanting God himself in this verse?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, do you recognize resistance to God's words in your own choices?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Hebrews 3:7Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice,Both passages concern hearing God's voice; the psalm records Israel's refusal, while Hebrews addresses the possibility of hearing today.
Jeremiah 7:23–24but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that I command you, that …Jeremiah joins listening to God's voice with being his people, the very relationship within which Psalm 81 names Israel's refusal.
Proverbs 1:30They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.Both passages describe rejection through wanting none of what is offered: God's presence in the psalm and wisdom's counsel in Proverbs.
Deuteronomy 32:18Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.Both passages name Israel's disregard for God within a bond he established: his people in the psalm, his children in Deuteronomy.
Proverbs 1:25but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof;Ignoring counsel in Proverbs parallels refusing to listen in the psalm; both describe unwillingness to receive the speaker's words.
John 5:40Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.Both passages describe personal refusal: Israel wants none of God, and Jesus' hearers refuse to come to him for life.
Exodus 32:1When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, …Exodus shows the people asking Aaron for gods, a concrete act of rejection akin to the refusal named in Psalm 81.
Jeremiah 2:11–13Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit.Both passages retain God's designation “my people” while describing those people's rejection of him.
Zechariah 7:11But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.Both passages name a refusal to listen; Zechariah describes that refusal through turned backs and stopped ears.
Hebrews 10:29How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with …Both describe rejection of God, though Hebrews names contempt for the Son and Spirit and speaks of punishment.
Deuteronomy 32:15But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock …Deuteronomy's account of abandoning God and rejecting the Rock of salvation shares Psalm 81's charge that Israel wanted none of him.
Psalm 106:12–13Then they believed his words. They sang his praise.Both concern Israel's response to God's words, with belief and praise in Psalm 106 contrasting with refusal in Psalm 81.
Where this verse fits
Guilt and confession. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
God names the refusal without softening it. Yet he still says “my people,” and the surrounding verses express his desire for Israel to listen.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 81:11. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
Keep goingPsalm 81 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms
Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).