Psalms 83

Psalms 83:1

An EasyEnglish Translation with Notes (about 1200 word vocabulary) on Psalms 73 to 89

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Enemies All Round Us! Psalms 83 Jesus said, “I am sending you like sheep into a group of wolves. So, be as clever as snakes but, like the dove, do not hurt anybody” (Matthew 10: 16). (A wolf is a wild animal that eats sheep; a dove is a bird that does not hurt anyone.) Psalms 83      (This) psalm (is) a song for *Asaph.

v1      God, do not seem to be asleep!      Do not remain quiet and do nothing, God!

v2      For look, your enemies are (all) doing something.      The people that hate you are getting ready (to fight you).

v3      They are making clever *plans against your people.      They are deciding together what to do with those people that you love.

v4      They are saying, “Come on, we will destroy their country.      Then nobody will ever remember the name of Israel”.

v5      They are deciding together what to do.      They are agreeing to do something against you.

v6 - v7    The people (doing this are) from:              Edom and the Ishmaelites              Moab and the Hagrites              Gebal, Ammon and Amalek              Philistia and Tyre

v8      Even Assyria has joined them.      They have made the sons of Lot (Moab and Ammon) strong.     *SELAH

v9      Do to them what you did to Midian        and to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon.

v10    They died at Endor        and they became *like dirt on the ground.

v11    Make their leaders *like Oreb and Zeeb.      (Make) all their *princes *like Zebah and Zalmunna.

v12    They said, “Let us take all the country that belongs to God”.

v13    God, blow them away *like *chaff in the wind!

v14    As fire burns a forest and *lights the mountains,        so they are on fire.

v15    Go after them with bad weather        and frighten them a lot with your storms.

v16    Make their faces ashamed        so that they will look for your name, *LORD.

v17    Let them always be ashamed and very frightened.      Let them become so ashamed that then they die!

v18    Then they will know that your name is *LORD.      And (they will know that) you are the *Most High over all the earth. The Story of Psalm 83 Bible students do not agree when the *psalmist wrote Psalms 83. In verses 6-8 is a list of the enemies of Israel. Because they were enemies of Israel, they were also enemies of God. This was true when the *psalmist wrote the psalm, but it is not necessary that it is true today. The problem is this: not all these people were enemies of Israel at the same time. Some were enemies 800 B.C., some 600 B.C., some 400 B.C. (B.C. means “years Before Christ came to the earth”.) So, some Bible students think that Psalms 83 comes from 800 B.C., some from 600 B.C., and some from 400 B.C. Maybe we shall never know who is right!

The *psalmist tells us that this is “a song for *Asaph”. A psalm is words with music, or a song. *Asaph was the name of a group of singers. *Asaph lived about 1000 BC, but his singers continued for many centuries. So, any of the Bible students could be right about the date of Psalm 83! What Psalms 83 means Study the psalm in two parts:

      Verses 1 – 8: what the enemies of God and Israel are doing

      Verses 9 – 18: what the *psalmist wants (prays that) God will do

In verses 1 - 2, the *psalmist says that God seems to be doing nothing while his enemies are getting ready to fight him. They fight God by fighting his people Israel. They want everybody to forget that there ever was an Israel, verse 4! Verses 6 - 8 tell us who these enemies are. Some are to the east, *like Moab. Some are to the west *like Philistia. Some are to the south and some are to the north. We are not sure who the Hagrites and Gebal were. The important thing is this: the enemies were all round Israel! In verse 8, “the sons of Lot” means the countries that his children started.

In verses 9 - 12,we read about people that God destroyed. Gideon destroyed Midian; the story is in Judges 6-8. Oreb and Zeeb were *princes of Midian. People from Ephraim killed them, the story is in Judges 7:24-25. Ephraim was one of the *tribes of Israel. Gideon killed Zebah and Zalmunna in Judges 8:21.

They were kings of Midian. Sisera and Jabin come from another story, in Judges 4:1-24. Jabin was king of Hazor. Sisera was the leader of his army. A woman (Jael) killed Sisera as he hid in her *tent. Two *judges (leaders) of Israel destroyed Jabin’s army at the River Kishon.

In verse 14, “lights the mountains” means “makes a fire on the mountains”. Bible students are not sure what verses 16 - 18 mean. Some think that it means that the *psalmist wants God to destroy his enemies as he destroyed Midian. Other Bible students think that it means that the *psalmist wants them to be sorry and believe in God. The name *LORD is the *covenant name of God. It is the name people use who agree with God and who want to obey him. Something to do 1.         Pray that God’s enemies will start to love him. Do this when they do something bad.

2.         If you have a Bible, read about Barak and Deborah (Judges 4-5) and Gideon (Judges 6-8).

3.         If you have a Bible map, look for the places in verses 6-8 of this psalm.

© 2001-2002, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words).

January 2002

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var w3 = new Array;w3[0]=’<b%3EAsaph</b%3E ~ look in the Introduction of Psalm 73.’;w3[1]=’<b%3Eplans</b%3E ~ thoughts about what to do.’;w3[2]=’<b%3Elike</b%3E ~ another word for “as”.’;w3[3]=’<b%3Eprince</b%3E ~ son of a king.’;w3[4]=’<b%3Echaff</b%3E ~ dead part of a plant round the seed.’;w3[5]=’<b%3Elights</b%3E ~ (in Psalms 83:14) makes a fire (on the mountains).’;w3[6]=’<b%3ELord</b%3E ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or “master”; Adonai in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.