Psalm 83
The Message
83 1-5 God, don’t shut me out;
don’t give me the silent treatment, O God.
Your enemies are out there whooping it up,
the God-haters are living it up;
They’re plotting to do your people in,
conspiring to rob you of your precious ones.
“Let’s wipe this nation from the face of the earth,”
they say; “scratch Israel’s name off the books.”
And now they’re putting their heads together,
making plans to get rid of you.
6-8 Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia and the Tyrians,
And now Assyria has joined up,
Giving muscle to the gang of Lot.
9-12 Do to them what you did to Midian,
to Sisera and Jabin at Kishon Brook;
They came to a bad end at Endor,
nothing but dung for the garden.
Cut down their leaders as you did Oreb and Zeeb,
their princes to nothings like Zebah and Zalmunna,
With their empty brags, “We’re grabbing it all,
grabbing God’s gardens for ourselves.”
13-18 My God! I’ve had it with them!
Blow them away!
Tumbleweeds in the desert waste,
charred sticks in the burned-over ground.
Knock the breath right out of them, so they’re gasping
for breath, gasping, “God.”
Bring them to the end of their rope,
and leave them there dangling, helpless.
Then they’ll learn your name: “God,”
the one and only High God on earth.
Psalm 83
Good News Translation
A Prayer for the Defeat of Israel's Enemies[a]
83 O God, do not keep silent;
do not be still, do not be quiet!
2 Look! Your enemies are in revolt,
and those who hate you are rebelling.
3 They are making secret plans against your people;
they are plotting against those you protect.
4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy their nation,
so that Israel will be forgotten forever.”
5 They agree on their plan
and form an alliance against you:
6 the people of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
the people of Moab and the Hagrites;
7 the people of Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,
and of Philistia and Tyre.
8 Assyria has also joined them
as a strong ally of the Ammonites and Moabites, the descendants of Lot.
9 (A)Do to them what you did to the Midianites,
and to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
10 You defeated them at Endor,
and their bodies rotted on the ground.
11 (B)Do to their leaders what you did to Oreb and Zeeb;
defeat all their rulers as you did Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “We will take for our own
the land that belongs to God.”
13 Scatter them like dust, O God,
like straw blown away by the wind.
14 As fire burns the forest,
as flames set the hills on fire,
15 chase them away with your storm
and terrify them with your fierce winds.
16 Cover their faces with shame, O Lord,
and make them acknowledge your power.
17 May they be defeated and terrified forever;
may they die in complete disgrace.
18 May they know that you alone are the Lord,
supreme ruler over all the earth.
Footnotes
- Psalm 83:1 HEBREW TITLE: A psalm by Asaph; a song.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
