83:13 O my God, make them like dead thistles, 1
like dead weeds blown away by 2 the wind!
83:14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,
or the flames that consume the mountainsides, 3
83:15 chase them with your gale winds,
and terrify 4 them with your windstorm.
83:16 Cover 5 their faces with shame,
so they might seek 6 you, 7 O Lord.
1 tn Or “tumbleweed.” The Hebrew noun גַּלְגַּל (galgal) refers to a “wheel” or, metaphorically, to a whirling wind (see Ps 77:18). If taken in the latter sense here, one could understand the term as a metonymical reference to dust blown by a whirlwind (cf. NRSV “like whirling dust”). However, HALOT 190 s.v. II גַּלְגַּל understands the noun as a homonym referring to a “dead thistle” here and in Isa 17:13. The parallel line, which refers to קַשׁ (qash, “chaff”), favors this interpretation.
2 tn Heb “before.”
3 sn The imagery of fire and flames suggests unrelenting, destructive judgment.
4 tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 15 express the psalmist’s wish or prayer.
5 tn Heb “fill.”
6 tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose or result (“then they will seek”).
7 tn Heb “your name,” which stands here for God’s person.