Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!
Parallel translations
- WEB Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
- BSB If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,
- NKJV “Oh,that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!
- NASB “Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!
- NLT Oh, that my people would listen to me! Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God yearns that His people would only listen to Him and walk in His ways. His heart aches with longing for their good.
Overview
The plaintive 'Oh that my people would listen' reveals God's compassionate desire, not a cold deity but a grieved Father. His ways are the path of blessing He longs for them to walk. This tender longing finds its fullest expression in Christ, who wept over Jerusalem's refusal of God's grace (Luke 13:34).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 48:18O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
- Deut 5:29O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
- Deut 10:12–13And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
- Luke 19:41–42And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
- Matt 23:37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
- Deut 32:29O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 81:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.