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A Request to Act against Israel’s Neighbors

A song. A psalm of Asaph.[a]

83 O God, do not rest silently.
Do not keep silent or be still, O God.
For look, your enemies roar,
and those who hate you have lifted their head.
They devise cunning schemes[b] against your people,
and consult together against your protected ones.[c]
They say, “Come, let us annihilate them from being a nation,
so that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”
For they have consulted together with a unified purpose.[d]
They have made a covenant against you:
the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
Assyria also has joined with them.
They provide help[e] to the children of Lot. Selah
Do to them as you did with Midian,
as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the wadi of Kishon.
10 They were destroyed at En-dor;
they became dung for the ground.
11 Make their leaders like Oreb and Zeeb,
and all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take as our possession
the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like the tumbleweed,
like the chaff before wind.
14 As fire burns a forest,
and as a flame sets afire mountains,
15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Yahweh.
17 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever,
and let them be humiliated and perish
18 that they may know that you,
whose name is Yahweh, you alone,
are the Most High over the whole earth.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 83:1 The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one
  2. Psalm 83:3 Hebrew “scheme”
  3. Psalm 83:3 Or “your treasured ones”
  4. Psalm 83:5 Literally “with a heart together”
  5. Psalm 83:8 Literally “they have become an arm for”

Psalm 83

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

O God, do not be silent!
    Do not be deaf.
    Do not be quiet, O God.
Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies?
    Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?
They devise crafty schemes against your people;
    they conspire against your precious ones.
“Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation.
    We will destroy the very memory of its existence.”
Yes, this was their unanimous decision.
    They signed a treaty as allies against you—
these Edomites and Ishmaelites;
    Moabites and Hagrites;
Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites;
    and people from Philistia and Tyre.
Assyria has joined them, too,
    and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Interlude

Do to them as you did to the Midianites
    and as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
10 They were destroyed at Endor,
    and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil.
11 Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did.
    Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 for they said, “Let us seize for our own use
    these pasturelands of God!”
13 O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed,
    like chaff before the wind!
14 As a fire burns a forest
    and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
15 chase them with your fierce storm;
    terrify them with your tempest.
16 Utterly disgrace them
    until they submit to your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever.
    Let them die in disgrace.
18 Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord,
    that you alone are the Most High,
    supreme over all the earth.