Psalms 83:1-7

Prayer against Enemies

1

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

1 God, do not keep silent. Do not be deaf, God; do not be idle.[a]
2 See how Your enemies make an uproar;[b] those who hate You have acted arrogantly.[c]
3 They devise clever schemes against Your people; they conspire against Your treasured ones.[d]
4 They say, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation so that Israel's name will no longer be remembered."
5 For they have conspired with one mind; they form an alliance[e] against You-
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.

Psalms 83:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 83

\\<>\\. This is the last of the psalms that bear the name of Asaph, and some think it was written by him on occasion of David's smiting the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Edomites, and others, 2Sa 8:1-14, but these did not conjunctly, but separately, fight with David, and were overcome by him; whereas those this psalm makes mention of were in a confederacy together; and besides, the Tyrians in David's time were in friendship with him; but are here mentioned as joining with others against Israel, Ps 83:7, others are of opinion that this was prophetic delivered out with respect to future times, either to the conspiracy of the enemies of the Jews against them in the times of the Maccabees, ``Now when the nations round about heard that the altar was built and the sanctuary renewed as before, it displeased them very much. &c.'' (1 Maccabees 5:1) or rather to the confederacy of the Moabites, Ammonites, and others, in the times of Jehoshaphat, 2Ch 20:1, so Kimchi, Arama, and the generality of interpreters: perhaps reference is had to the enemies of God's people, from age to age, both in the Old and in the New Testament; R. Obadiah understands it of the war of Gog and Magog.

Footnotes 6

Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.