Psalms 83:16

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

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 burns a forest, and as a flame sets afire mountains,
15 so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Yahweh.
17 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever, and let them be humiliated and perish
18 that they may know that you, [whose] name [is] Yahweh, you alone, [are the] Most High over the whole earth.
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.