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Psalms 83

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The Psalmist Cries for God's Intervention 1–2

1
A Song or Psalm of Asaph. Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. ​
2
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

The Conspiracy Against God's People 3–5

3
They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. ​
4
They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. ​
5
For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:

The Alliance of Enemy Nations 6–8

6
The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; ​
7
Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8
Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. ​

Prayer for Judgment Based on Past Acts 9–12

9
Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: ​
10
Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.
11
Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: ​
12
Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

The Ultimate Goal: God's Sovereignty Revealed 13–18

13
O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. ​
14
As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
15
So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.
16
Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD. ​
17
Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:
18
That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalms 83

Verse 1

Keep not thou silence — Three words for stillness: 'silence' (domi, as in Isa 62:6, 'keep not silence'), 'hold not thy peace' (charash, to be mute) and 'be not still' (shaqat, to be at rest). God is also named twice by different words, Elohim and then El. The plea is that of Ps 35:22 and 109:1, while Ps 50:3 promises that 'Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence'.

Verse 3

thy hidden ones — Tsaphan, to hide by covering, the verb of Ps 27:5, 'in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me', and Ps 31:20, 'Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence'. The enemies' 'crafty counsel' is a sod, a council sitting in close deliberation, made 'aram, cunning; against it stands the secret in which the LORD keeps his own.

Verse 4

cut them off from being a nation — The words are those said of Moab in Jer 48:2, 'let us cut it off from being a nation', and the second aim echoes Jer 11:19, 'that his name may be no more remembered'. Kachad is to hide away. 'Name' (shem) occurs in this psalm only here and in vv.16 and 18: Israel's name they would erase, the LORD's name they are to seek.

Verse 6

tabernacles of Edom — Ohel, tents, the dwellings of whole peoples. The list is largely Israel's kin: Edom is Esau (Gen 36:1), Moab came from Lot (Gen 19:37), the 'Ishmaelites' from Abraham's son (Gen 25:12–18), and the 'Hagarenes' bear Hagar's name; war was made on the Hagarites in the days of Saul (1 Chr 5:10). Moab and Ammon came against Judah in 2 Chr 20:1.

Verse 8

Assur also is joined with them — Assur is Asshur, Assyria, whose founding is told in Gen 10:11. 'Holpen' renders zeroa, the arm: Assyria has been an arm to the children of Lot, Moab and Ammon (Gen 19:37–38). The same word is in 'be thou their arm every morning' (Isa 33:2). Assyria's own coming against Israel is recorded in 2 Kings 15:19.

Verse 9

the Midianites… Sisera… Jabin — The precedents are from Judges. 'The LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots' (Judg 4:15), and Jabin was 'the king of Canaan' (Judg 4:24). The 'brook' (nachal) of Kison swept them away: 'The river of Kishon swept them away' (Judg 5:21). Isaiah makes Midian the standard of rescue: 'as in the day of Midian' (Isa 9:4).

Verse 11

like Oreb, and like Zeeb — Two pairs, both Midianite. Oreb and Zeeb were the 'two princes of the Midianites' taken and slain, Oreb 'upon the rock Oreb' and Zeeb 'at the winepress of Zeeb' (Judg 7:25). Zebah and Zalmunna were 'the two kings of Midian' (Judg 8:12). The psalm calls the first pair 'nobles' (nadib) and the second 'princes' (nasik).

Verse 13

like a wheel — Galgal, whatever rolls: a wheel, and so a thing driven before a gale, as in Isa 17:13, 'like a rolling thing before the whirlwind'. 'Stubble' is qash, dry straw: 'the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble' (Isa 40:24). 'They are as stubble before the wind' (Job 21:18) says it of the wicked.

Verse 16

seek thy name — Shame is not the last aim. 'Fill their faces with shame' (qalon, disgrace) is asked so that they 'seek' (baqash, search out, the word for seeking God) the LORD's name. The thought is that of Ps 9:20, 'Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men'. 'Name' returns in v.18.

Verse 18

JEHOVAH — The divine name, printed so here as in Ex 6:3, 'by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them'. Men are to 'know' (yada) that he alone bears it, and is Elyon, 'most high', the title Melchizedek gives, 'the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth' (Gen 14:19). 'Thou, LORD, art high above all the earth' (Ps 97:9).