Psalms 83

General context

The speaker asks God not to keep silence, hold his peace or be still, because his enemies make a tumult and those who hate him have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against God's people and his hidden ones and have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. They are confederate against God. The psalm lists them: the tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon and Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre, and Assur, who has helped the children of Lot. A Selah follows the list. The speaker asks God to do to them as to the Midianites, as to Sisera and Jabin at the brook of Kison, who perished at En-dor and became as dung; to make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb and their princes as Zebah and Zalmunna, who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. The speaker asks that they be made like a wheel and stubble before the wind, pursued by tempest and storm as fire burns a wood. Their faces are to be filled with shame that they may seek God's name; they are to be confounded, troubled for ever and perish, so that men may know that the one whose name alone is Jehovah is the most high over all the earth.

Cited passages: Psalms 83:1, Psalms 83:2, Psalms 83:3, Psalms 83:4, Psalms 83:5, Psalms 83:6, Psalms 83:7, Psalms 83:8, Psalms 83:9, Psalms 83:10, Psalms 83:11, Psalms 83:12, Psalms 83:13, Psalms 83:15, Psalms 83:16, Psalms 83:17, Psalms 83:18

Psalms 83 (KJV)

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Historical context

This source prints no superscription; the psalm opens with Keep not thou silence, O God. The speaker is singular in verse 13, O my God, and speaks for thy people. Ten names make up the confederacy: Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines, the inhabitants of Tyre, and Assur, with Assur described as having helped the children of Lot. The psalm does not narrate any battle with this group or say what happened; it asks. The past defeats it appeals to are named by their people and places, the Midianites, Sisera and Jabin at the brook of Kison, En-dor, and by four leaders, Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah and Zalmunna, but the psalm does not retell those events. A second quoted plan, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession, follows the naming of the nobles and princes in verse 11; the text's Who said leaves open whether the words belong to the present confederates' leaders or to Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom they are compared. The one Selah closes the list of nations. The divine name in verse 18 is printed as Jehovah, the only place in this psalm that form appears.

Cited passages: Psalms 83:13, Psalms 83:3, Psalms 83:8, Psalms 83:9, Psalms 83:10, Psalms 83:11, Psalms 83:12, Psalms 83:4, Psalms 83:18

Literary context

The psalm opens with three negatives, keep not silence, hold not thy peace, be not still, and the rest is an argument for why God should act. The enemies are given speech twice, and both speeches are plans: to cut off Israel's name from remembrance, and to take God's houses in possession. Against the enemies' stated aim to erase a name, the psalm ends by asking that men may know God's name, Jehovah, over all the earth. The list of ten nations is followed by a list of past defeats, so that the second list answers the first. The requested judgment moves from history to nature: a wheel, stubble in wind, fire in a wood, flame on mountains, tempest and storm. Verse 16 asks for shame so that they may seek thy name, and verse 17 asks that they perish; the psalm sets both requests side by side without reconciling them.

Cited passages: Psalms 83:1, Psalms 83:4, Psalms 83:18, Psalms 83:14, Psalms 83:16, Psalms 83:17, Psalms 83:13

Key moments

1. Keep not silence (Psalms 83:1). The speaker asks God not to be still while his enemies make a tumult.
2. Cut them off as a nation (Psalms 83:4). The enemies' plan to end the name of Israel is quoted.
3. Ten confederates (Psalms 83:6). The list of allied peoples begins with Edom and the Ishmaelites.
4. As to Sisera and Jabin (Psalms 83:9). The speaker asks for a defeat like those of Midian and the brook of Kison.
5. Stubble before the wind (Psalms 83:13). The speaker asks that the enemies be driven like a wheel and stubble.
6. That men may know Jehovah (Psalms 83:18). The psalm ends with the purpose that God's name be known as most high.

For reflection

Verse 16 asks that the enemies be shamed so that they may seek God's name, and verse 17 asks that they perish. Can both be wanted at once, and which does the closing line about men knowing Jehovah seem to serve?

People in this chapter

• Asaph
• Ishmael
• Jacob
• Lot

Also indexed here:

• Hagri
• Jabin
• Oreb
• Sisera
• Zalmunna
• Zebah
• Zeeb