83
A song. A psalm of Asaph.
1 God, please do not stay silent! You can't remain unmoved! God, you must not keep quiet!
2 Can't you hear the roars of your enemies? Can't you see how those who hate you are defiantly lifting up their heads?
3 They invent cunning plans to conspire against your people; they plot against those you treasure.
4 They say, “Come on! Let's destroy them as a nation so the name ‘Israel’ will be completely forgotten.”
5 They all agree in their conspiracy; they've made a treaty together to attack you—
6 the people of Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, and the Hagirites;
7 the people of Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, and the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Assyria too has joined them, allied with the descendants of Lot. Selah.
9 Do to them what you did to Midian, what you did to Sisera and Jabin* at the Kishon River.
10 They were destroyed at Endor and became like manure to fertilize the ground.
11 Make their leaders like Oreb and Zeeb; all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna,†
12 for they said, “Let's take the pastures of God for ourselves!”
13 My God, make them like whirling tumbleweeds, chaff blown away by the wind.
14 Just like fire that burns the forest, a flame that sets fire to the mountains,
15 in the same way chase them down with your storm, terrify them with your whirlwind.
16 Shame them in defeat‡ so that they come to you, Lord!
17 Make them ashamed, terrify them forever so that they die in disgrace.
18 Let them understand that you alone, called the Lord, are the Most High who rules over all the earth.
* 83:9 Sisera and Jabin: see Judges 4. † 83:11 Oreb and Zeeb; Zebah and Zalmunna: see Judges 6 and Judges 7. ‡ 83:16 Literally, “fill their faces with shame.”