Psalms 83:2-8

83:2 For look, your enemies are making a commotion;

those who hate you are hostile.

83:3 They carefully plot against your people,

and make plans to harm the ones you cherish.

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation!

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

83:5 Yes, they devise a unified strategy;

they form an alliance against you.

83:6 It includes the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites, 10 

83:7 Gebal, 11  Ammon, and Amalek,

Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre. 12 

83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,

lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. 13  (Selah)


tn Heb “lift up [their] head[s].” The phrase “lift up [the] head” here means “to threaten; to be hostile,” as in Judg 8:28.

tn Heb “they make crafty a plot.”

tn Heb “and consult together against.”

tn The passive participle of the Hebrew verb צָפַן (tsafan, “to hide”) is used here in the sense of “treasured; cherished.”

tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”

tn Or “for.”

tn Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”

tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

tn The words “it includes” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

10 sn The Hagrites are also mentioned in 1 Chr 5:10, 19-20.

11 sn Some identify Gebal with the Phoenician coastal city of Byblos (see Ezek 27:9, where the name is spelled differently), though others locate this site south of the Dead Sea (see BDB 148 s.v. גְּבַל; HALOT 174 s.v. גְּבַל).

12 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

13 tn Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might.