Psalms 83:2-8

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

those who hate you are hostile. ¹ 

83:3 They carefully plot ²  against your people,

and make plans to harm ³  the ones you cherish. ⁴ 

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! ⁵ 

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

83:5 Yes, ⁶  they devise a unified strategy; ⁷ 

they form an alliance ⁸  against you.

83:6 It includes ⁹  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)

[83:2]  ¹ 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.

[83:3]  ² tn Heb “they make crafty a plot.”

[83:3]  ³ tn Heb “and consult together against.”

[83:3]  ⁴ tn The passive participle of the Hebrew verb צָפַן (tsafan, “to hide”) is used here in the sense of “treasured; cherished.”

[83:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”

[83:5]  ⁶ tn Or “for.”

[83:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”

[83:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[83:6]  ⁹ tn The words “it includes” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[83:6]  ¹⁰ sn The Hagrites are also mentioned in 1 Chr 5:10, 19-20.

[83:7]  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).

[83:7]  ¹² map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[83:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might.