Psalms 81:13

Verse Psalms 81:13. O that my people had hearkened unto me, - Israel had walked in my ways] Nothing can be more plaintive than the original; sense and sound are surprisingly united. I scruple not to say to him who understands the Hebrew, however learned, he has never found in any poet, Greek or Latin, a finer example of deep-seated grief, unable to express itself in appropriate words without frequent interruptions of sighs and sobs, terminated with a mournful cry.

לו עמי שמע לי

ישראי בדרכי יהלכו

Lo ammi shomea li

Yishrael bidrachi yehallechu!

He who can give the proper guttural pronunciation to the letter ע ain; and gives the ו vau, and the י yod, their full Asiatic sound, not pinching them to death by a compressed and worthless European enunciation; will at once be convinced of the propriety of this remark.