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.
> God, don't keep silent. Don't keep silent, And don't be still, God.
For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones.
\"Come,\" they say, \"and let's destroy them as a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.\"
For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you.
The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites;
Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot. Selah.
Do to them as you did to Midian, As to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;
Who perished at Endor, Who became as dung for the earth.
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb; Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna;
Who said, \"Let us take possession Of God's pasturelands.\"
My God, make them like tumbleweed; Like chaff before the wind.
As the fire that burns the forest, As the flame that sets the mountains on fire,
So pursue them with your tempest, And terrify them with your storm.
Fill their faces with confusion, That they may seek your name, Yahweh.
Let them be disappointed and dismayed forever. Yes, let them be confounded and perish;
That they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh, Are the Most High over all the earth.