Psalms 83

This psalm of Asaph is a cry for help as a ring of nations joins to wipe out Israel. The writer asks God to act as He did in Israel’s past victories. His deepest aim is that even God’s enemies will come to know the LORD as Most High over all the earth.

Psalms 83:1

The psalm opens with urgent pleading. When enemies press in, God can seem quiet and far away. The writer piles up three requests, each saying the same thing: speak, stir, and act. He brings the matter to God before anyone else.

BSA: silent (“keep not thou silence, do not stay quiet”): He asks God to break His silence with a word and with action on his people’s behalf.

See also: Psalm 28:1; Psalm 35:22.

Psalms 83:2

The psalmist asks God to look at what is happening. The enemies are noisy and proud, and they carry their heads high. Notice that he calls them God’s enemies, not just his own. The attack on God’s people is really a revolt against God.

BSA: rage (“make a tumult, are out of control”): The picture is of a roaring, restless crowd that cannot be calmed. foes (“those who defy and rebel against You”): These enemies are rebels against God Himself, not only against Israel.

See also: Psalm 2:1-2.

Psalms 83:3

The enemies do not attack openly at first. They plan in secret and craftily. The people they target are described tenderly as those God cherishes, like treasure kept safe. The believer can know that God holds His people dear, even while they are hunted.

BSA: cherish (“protect, treasure, keep in a secret place”): God’s people are like something precious He hides away for safekeeping.

Hebrew: צְפוּנֶיךָ (tsephuneka, H6845) — “Your hidden ones, Your treasured ones.” The word comes from hiding something valuable in a safe place. It shows God guarding His people as His own treasure.

See also: Psalm 27:5.

Psalms 83:4

Here the enemies’ plan is stated plainly: total destruction. They want Israel gone as a nation and even its name forgotten. This is hatred aimed at God’s whole purpose in the world, since He had promised to bless the nations through this people.

BSA: erase (“cut off, destroy”): The aim is to cut Israel off completely, root and branch.

See also: Genesis 12:2-3.

Psalms 83:5

The enemies agree with a single mind, which is rare among rival nations. Their pact is a kind of covenant. Yet the psalmist sees its real target: they form an alliance against You. Whoever opposes God’s people ends up opposing God.

BSA: alliance (“a covenant, a league”): They bind themselves by a solemn agreement, as if making a treaty against God.

Hebrew: בְּרִית (berit, H1285) — “covenant, binding agreement.” This is the word normally used for God’s own covenants. Here it is turned upside down: the nations make a covenant against the God of the covenant.

Psalms 83:6-8

Ten peoples are named, ringing Israel on every side: neighbors to the east and south, the coast, and powerful Assyria beyond. Many were relatives or old rivals. Assyria is a helper to the descendants of Lot. The long list shows how alone God’s people can feel, and how great the danger seems.

BSA: Assyria (“Assur, a powerful nation”): A great power far to the north lends weight to the smaller neighbors, making the threat heavier. Lot (“a nephew of Abraham”): Moab and Ammon came from Lot, so this is a family quarrel turned bitter.

See also: Genesis 19:36-38.

Psalms 83:9-10

The psalmist asks God to repeat His old rescues. In Judges, God broke Midian, and defeated Sisera and Jabin by the Kishon through Gideon, and through Deborah and Barak. Remembering what God has already done gives courage to pray for what He can do again.

BSA: perished (“were destroyed, came to destruction”): Those once so proud came to a total and final end.

See also: Judges 7:22; Judges 4:15-16.

Psalms 83:11-12

The psalmist names four Midianite leaders who were beaten in Gideon’s day. Their boast shows their sin: they wanted to seize for themselves the land that belongs to God. The land was never merely Israel’s property. It was God’s own pasture, and He defends what is His.

BSA: pastures (“houses, habitations, land”): The word can mean dwelling places, so the enemies wanted God’s own home among His people.

See also: Judges 7:25; Judges 8:21.

Psalms 83:13

Now come pictures of weakness. Tumbleweed rolls where the wind sends it, and chaff is thrown away. The psalmist asks that the proud alliance be made light and useless, blown wherever God chooses. He speaks of God now as my God, personally.

BSA: tumbleweed (“whirling, rolling”): It pictures something spinning helplessly with no control over where it goes. chaff (“stubble, dry stems”): Chaff is the worthless leftover that wind carries off at threshing.

See also: Psalm 1:4.

Psalms 83:14-15

The pictures turn to fire and storm. A forest fire races over mountains, and a storm sweeps all before it. These are images of how God’s judgment can be unstoppable. The psalmist asks God to pursue the enemies until their plans are scattered.

BSA: tempest (“strong wind”): A mighty rushing wind that drives everything before it. consumes (“burning intensely, consuming completely”): The fire leaves nothing standing, as God’s judgment can.

See also: Isaiah 66:15.

Psalms 83:16

Here the prayer turns. He asks for shame, but with a purpose: that they may seek Your name, O LORD. Humbling is meant to lead to turning toward God. Even in a prayer about enemies, the deepest hope is their coming to know Him.

BSA: seek (“give honor to, admit the power of”): Seeking God’s name includes bowing to His power and honoring Him. shame (“confusion, dismay”): It is the bewilderment of proud plans collapsing.

See also: Philippians 2:10-11.

Psalms 83:17

The psalmist now asks that, if they will not turn, their plans end in disgrace. Prayers like this ask God to be just, and leave the judging to Him. The verse also reminds believers that God does not leave the proud to triumph forever.

BSA: terrified (“dismayed, put to shame”): The enemies’ bold confidence is replaced by deep alarm.

Psalms 83:18

The psalm ends on its real goal: that all would know God. His personal name, the LORD, belongs to Him alone. He is Most High over all the earth, not just over Israel’s borders. However fierce the opposition looks, the final word belongs to Him.

BSA: Most High (“exalted, supreme”): God stands above every nation and every power, with no rival. name (“identity, character”): God’s name stands for who He truly is, which the nations are to come to know.

Hebrew: עֶלְיוֹן (elyon, H5945) — “Most High.” The word means highest of all, far above everything. It tells us no earthly alliance, however great, can stand against Him.

See also: Psalm 97:9.