Psalm 83 - Asaph's Prayer Against a Confederacy of Enemies
Asaph names ten nations plotting against Israel and calls on God to act.
Psalm 83 opens with an urgent cry, 'Keep not thou silence, O God,' as Asaph lists ten hostile nations, from Edom to Assyria, who have banded together to wipe out Israel's name. It reads as one continuous prayer within the wider Psalms overview, giving voice to a nation under real, coordinated threat.
O God, Do not keep quiet, Do not hold thy peace, Neither be thou still, O GOD!
For lo! thine enemies, are tumultuous, And, they who hate thee, have lifted up the head;
Against thy people, they craftily devise a secret plot, And conspire against thy treasured ones.
They have said—Come, and let us wipe them out from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.
For they have taken counsel with one heart, Against thee—a covenant, would they solemnize—
The tents of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagarenes;
Gebal and Ammon, and Amalek, The Philistines, with the dwellers in Tyre;
Even Assyria hath joined herself with them, They have become an arm to the sons of Lot. [Selah.]
Make them like Midian, like Sisera, like Jabin, by the torrent of Kishon;
They perished at En-dor, They become manure for the soil!
Make them—their nobles—like Oreb and like Zeeb, And, like Zebah and like Zalmunna, all their princes:
Who said—Let us take a possession for ourselves, The pastures of God!
O my God, make them, As whirling [dust], As chaff before a wind;
As a fire burneth a forest,—And as a flame setteth mountains ablaze,
So, wilt thou pursue them with thy tempest,—And, with thy storm-wind, wilt terrify them:
Fill thou their faces with dishonour, That men may seek thy Name, O Yahweh;
Let them turn pale, and be terrified to futurity, Yea let them blush, and perish:
That men may know that, thou, Whose Name alone is Yahweh, Art Most High over all the earth.