Psalms · psalm 83 of 150
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Psalm 83 is a prayer of Asaph that God not keep silence before a coalition of neighboring peoples who plot to wipe out the name of Israel. It names Edom, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre and Assyria. It recalls how God earlier defeated Midian and Sisera and asks that his enemies be put to shame so that they know that the Lord alone is the Most High over all the earth.
The title calls it a song and psalm of Asaph. It is in Book III and is the last of the psalms of Asaph. We do not know for certain which threat it refers to, because the list of peoples does not match exactly any coalition told in Israel's history. Perhaps it gathers several threats or an alliance the text does not detail. More important than its date is its prayer: the crisis makes the people cry out to God.
The psalm begins with a plea: O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still. Your enemies make an uproar, and those who hate you have raised their heads. They lay crafty plans against your people and plot against those you treasure. They say: come, let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.
Verses 5 to 8 name the conspirators, who have made a covenant against God: the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre, and also Asshur, which has joined them and is the strong arm of the children of Lot.
Verses 9 to 15 ask that God do to them as he did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, who perished at Endor and became dung for the ground. May their nobles be like Oreb and Zeeb, and their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, who said: let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God. May they be like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind, like fire that burns the forest and like flame that sets the mountains ablaze. May God pursue them with his tempest and terrify them with his hurricane.
Verses 16 to 18 reveal the purpose of the prayer. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord. Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever, and perish, that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The psalmist begs that God not keep silence or be still. When the people feel alone before their enemies, they ask God to act and break his apparent passivity.
The enemies want to wipe out Israel as a nation so that its name is remembered no more. The threat is not only military: it aims at the disappearance of a people who bear God's name.
The psalmist asks that the enemies be put to shame so that they seek the name of the Lord. Even in the plea for justice, there is a longing that the adversaries come to know God.
May they know that the Lord is his name and that he alone is the Most High over all the earth. The ultimate aim of the psalm is not revenge but the universal recognition of God.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That he not keep silence or be still. — Psalm 83:1
Answer: Wipe it out as a nation so that its name is remembered no more. — Psalm 83:4
Answer: Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagrites, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre and Asshur. — Psalm 83:6-8
Answer: Midian, and Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon. — Psalm 83:9
Answer: That they may seek the name of the Lord. — Psalm 83:16
Answer: That the Lord is his name and that he alone is the Most High over all the earth. — Psalm 83:18
Psalm 83 is a prayer for when a community feels threatened and surrounded. It does not hide fear or disguise urgency: it asks God to act. In a Sunday school class you can pray with this psalm for persecuted churches and for communities facing hostility for their faith.
It also invites us to remember past stories of rescue, as the psalmist does with Midian and Sisera. And its final request, that the enemies know the Lord, encourages us to pray also for those who oppose us, that they may come to know God. It is a way of joining the plea for justice with the love of enemies Jesus taught.
Psalm 83 ends with the desire that all acknowledge the Most High. With it the series of psalms of Asaph closes, and Psalm 84 opens the series of the sons of Korah with a song of love for the house of God.
With Midian it alludes to Gideon's victory over the Midianites, told in Judges 6-8, where the princes Oreb and Zeeb and the kings Zebah and Zalmunna died. With Sisera and Jabin it alludes to the victory of Deborah and Barak by the river Kishon, in Judges 4-5.
The text lists ten peoples or groups, but history records no moment when all united against Israel. The poet may be gathering Israel's traditional enemies as a symbol of a general threat. The psalm does not say more, which is why it can be prayed in different eras.