Psalms 83:16

16 Fill their faces with shame, so that they may seek your name, O Lord.

Psalms 83:16 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 83:16

Fill their faces with shame
For their sins, or rather through disappointment, not being able to put their desperate and deep laid schemes into execution: or "with lightness" F15; instead of a weight of honour and glory upon them, let them be despised. R. Joseph Kimchi renders it, "fill their faces with fire"; let their faces be as if they were on fire, as men's faces are, who are put to an exceeding great blush, or are most sadly confounded and ashamed:

that they may seek thy name, O Lord;
not they themselves, who are filled with shame; for it is imprecated, that they be ashamed, and troubled for ever, and so as to perish, ( Psalms 83:17 ) but others; for the words may be supplied, as in ( Psalms 83:18 ) "that men may seek thy name, or that thy name may be sought": the judgments of God upon wicked men are sometimes the means of arousing others, and putting them upon seeking the Lord, his face, and his favour; that God would be merciful to them, pardon their iniquities, avert judgments from them, and preserve them from threatened calamities; and this is a good end, when answered; see ( Isaiah 26:9 Isaiah 26:16 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F15 (Nwlq) Heb. "levitate", Piscator; so Ainsworth.

Psalms 83:16 In-Context

14 As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane.
16 Fill their faces with shame, so that they may seek your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace.
18 Let them know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.