Psalm 83
The full text of Psalm 83 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
A song. A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not be silent;
do not hold your peace or be still, O God.
2 For look—your enemies are in uproar;
those who hate you have raised their heads.
3 Against your people they craft cunning plans;
they conspire against your treasured ones.
4 They say, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more."
5 For they conspire together with one mind;
against you they make a covenant—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Assyria also has joined with them;
they have become the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as to Sisera, as to Jabin at the Wadi Kishon—
10 who were destroyed at En-dor,
who became dung for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, "Let us take for ourselves
the pastures of God."
13 O my God, make them like whirling dust,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire burns a forest,
as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
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 LORD.
17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace,
18 that they may know that you alone—
whose name is the LORD—
are the Most High over all the earth.
Translation notes (4)
- Psalm 83:6a This begins a list of ten peoples encircling Israel, from Edom in the southeast to Tyre in the northwest. The Hagrites, a nomadic people east of the Jordan, appear also in 1 Chronicles 5:10, where the tribe of Reuben wars against them. No single moment in Israel's history records all ten acting in concert, so the psalm likely gathers Israel's traditional enemies into one representative coalition.
- Psalm 83:8a The children of Lot are Moab and Ammon, descended from Lot's two daughters according to Genesis 19:36-38; Assyria thus lends its power to the coalition's leading instigators. Hebrew zeroa', 'arm', is a common figure for military strength, so the nations serve literally as an arm of support to Lot's descendants.
- Psalm 83:9a The psalmist invokes two decisive victories from the period of the judges: Gideon's rout of Midian (Judges 7) and the defeat of Sisera, commander for King Jabin of Hazor, at the Kishon (Judges 4–5). The torrent Kishon, which swept away Sisera's chariots according to the Song of Deborah, drains the Jezreel Valley near En-dor, the site named in the following verse.
- Psalm 83:18a The verse pairs two divine names: YHWH (יהוה), the covenant name rendered LORD in small capitals, and elyon, 'Most High', a title stressing supremacy over the nations. The King James tradition printed the name itself as JEHOVAH here, one of only four such verses, because the psalm turns on the name being known by all the earth.
About this translation
You are reading the Trinity Bible Version (TBV) — an original 2026 translation made straight from the Hebrew, in clear modern English, exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter of every book is free to read online. For the study edition — with Hebrew and Greek on every verse and the full translation notes — open Psalms in the Trinity Bible app.
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