BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Psalms 83 — A Prayer Against the Nations That Conspire Against Israel
Asaph cries out for God to break His silence and defeat the surrounding nations who have allied to eradicate Israel.
Scripture
1A Song, a Psalm of Asaph. O God, keep not thou silence: Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
2For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult; And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
3Thy take crafty counsel against thy people, And consult together against thy hidden ones.
4They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5For they have consulted together with one consent; Against thee do they make a covenant:
6The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre:
8Assyria also is joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot. Selah
9Do thou unto them as unto Midian, As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;
10Who perished at Endor, Who became as dung for the earth.
11Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb; Yea, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna;
12Who said, Let us take to ourselves in possession The habitations of God.
13O my God, make them like the whirling dust; As stubble before the wind.
14As the fire that burneth the forest, And as the flame that setteth the mountains on fire,
15So pursue them with thy tempest, And terrify them with thy storm.
16Fill their faces with confusion, That they may seek thy name, O Jehovah.
17Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever; Yea, let them be confounded and perish;
18That they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, Art the Most High over all the earth.
What this passage means
Psalms 83 opens with a triple cry against God's silence — 'keep not thou silence,' 'hold not thy peace,' 'be not still' — pressing God to intervene as hostile nations form a coalition against His people. The psalm's emotional core is the revelation that enemies do not merely hate Israel; they conspire with 'one consent' and make a covenant against God Himself, aiming to erase Israel's very name from memory.
The body of the psalm catalogs a ten-nation alliance — Edom, Ishmaelites, Moab, Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Tyre, and Assyria — who together 'have helped the children of Lot.' This roll call frames the threat as total and encircling. Asaph then invokes past victories, asking God to treat the current foes as He treated Midian, Sisera, Jabin, Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna — enemies who 'perished at Endor' and 'became as dung for the earth.'
The closing verses shift from judgment to doxology. The request that enemies be 'as stubble before the wind' and 'as the fire that burneth the forest' escalates the imagery, but the stated purpose is not merely destruction: it is that God's enemies 'may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.' The plea for shame and confusion ends in a confession of God's universal sovereignty.
Context
The psalm is attributed to Asaph ('a Psalm of Asaph'), and the superscription also calls it 'A Song,' indicating liturgical use. The curated note places it among backfilled chapters from Psalms outside the P0/P1 set, meaning it was added to complete coverage rather than as a prioritized study passage.
Key words in the original
- H4210 מִזְמוֹר (mizmôr) is rendered 'psalm' in the superscription. Its root links it to instrumental music, indicating a poem composed to be accompanied by instruments, as opposed to a simple 'song' (שִׁיר, H7892) that precedes it in the title.
- H2790 חָרֵשׁ (ḥāresh), translated 'hold... peace,' carries the sense of being deaf or silent. Its root also extends to scratching or engraving. In Psalms 83:2 it is paired with שָׁקַט (šāqaṭ, 'be still') to intensify the demand that God break His silence.
- H6191 עָרֹם (ʿārom), rendered here 'devise' (with cunning), literally means 'to be bare' or 'to be cunning,' typically in a negative sense. In verse 4 it describes the crafty scheming of enemies against God's 'hidden ones.'
Related verses
- Exodus 6:3 This verse anchors the closing confession of Psalms 83:18 — 'thou alone, whose name is Jehovah' — to the Pentateuch's revelation of God's covenant name. The covenant context explains why the destruction of Israel's enemies is also a vindication of God's name.
- Judges 7:25 Judges 7:25 records the defeat of Oreb and Zeeb, two 'princes of Midian' whom Asaph names in Psalms 83:11. Citing this victory shows the psalmist grounding his plea in Israel's memory of God's past acts of deliverance.
- Psalms 2:2 Psalms 2:2 describes kings and rulers taking counsel together against Jehovah and His anointed. This mirrors Psalms 83:5, where surrounding nations 'with one consent' make a covenant against God, framing the psalm within the broader biblical pattern of human powers arrayed against divine sovereignty.
Common questions
Who is Asaph, and why does he write this psalm?
Asaph is named in the psalm's superscription as its author. The psalm itself does not record the historical occasion, but it vividly describes a coalition of ten nations plotting to wipe Israel from memory, prompting a plea for God to act as He did against Midian.
Why does the psalm ask God to act 'as unto Midian'?
Asaph cites specific past victories — Midian, Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna — to anchor his plea in Israel's memory of divine deliverance. The request is that God repeat such decisive defeat against the current coalition.
What is the ultimate purpose of the judgment requested in Psalms 83?
The closing verses (16–18) make clear that the goal is not merely Israel's vindication but that God's enemies 'may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.' The plea for shame and destruction ends in a doxology of God's universal sovereignty.