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.
The title of the thre and eiytetithe salm. The salm of the sones of Chore.
Lord of vertues, thi tabernaclis ben greetli loued;
my soule coueitith, and failith in to the porchis of the Lord. Myn herte and my fleische; ful out ioyeden in to quyk God.
For whi a sparewe fyndith an hous to it silf; and a turtle fyndith a neste to it silf, where it `schal kepe hise bryddis. Lord of vertues, thin auteris; my king, and my God.
Lord, blessid ben thei that dwellen in thin hous; thei schulen preise thee in to the worldis of worldis.
Blessid is the man, whos help is of thee; he hath disposid stiyngis in his herte,
in the valei of teeris, in the place which he hath set.
For the yyuer of the lawe schal yyue blessyng, thei schulen go fro vertu in to vertu; God of goddis schal be seyn in Sion.
Lord God of vertues, here thou my preier; God of Jacob, perseyue thou with eeris.
God, oure defender, biholde thou; and biholde in to the face of thi crist.
For whi o dai in thin hallis is bettere; than a thousynde. I chees to be `an out cast in the hous of my God; more than to dwelle in the tabernaclis of synneris.
For God loueth merci and treuthe; the Lord schal yyue grace and glorie.
He schal not depriue hem fro goodis, that gon in innocence; Lord of vertues, blessid is the man, that hopith in thee.