Psalms 83:12
in Psalms 83who said, “Let us possess for ourselves the pastures of God.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who said, Let us take to ourselves in possession The habitations of God.
KJV
Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.
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This verse in Psalms 83
Commentary
12 notes on this verseWho said: Let us possess the sanctuary of God by inheritance. They said it, but they did not accomplish it: for the Lord was fighting for his people.
This site's exposition
as You did to Midian
on Psalms 83:9-12
The prayer asks God to repeat two victories, Midian under Gideon and Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon. Oreb and Zeeb fell at Judges 7:25, Zebah and Zalmunna at Judges 8:21, all four in the same Midianite war. The enemy wanted God's own pastures.
This site's exposition
the pastures of God
Matthew Henry gave the word as the pleasant places of God, meaning the land of Canaan or the temple. Adam Clarke heard this in Jehoshaphat's prayer. At 2 Chronicles 20:11 the king said the invaders came to drive Israel out of the possession God had given.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
There are many things that might be said, but the hour shuts us out: for it is a long task to run through them one by one. For who could easily say, Do to them as to Midian and Sisera, as to Jabin at the torrent of Kishon. They perished at Endor, they became like the dung of the earth. Make their princes like Oreb and Zeb and Zebee and Salmana: all their princes who said, Let us possess for ourselves as an inheritance the sanctuary of God? They thought themselves to be men of the Church, and claimed the Church for themselves.
"All their princes, who said, Let us take to ourselves the sanctuary of God in possession" [Psalm 83:12]. This is that vain noise, with which, as said above, Your enemies have made a murmuring. But what must be understood by "the sanctuary of God," except the temple of God? As says the Apostle: "For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." [1 Corinthians 3:17] For what else do the enemies aim at, but to take into possession, that is, to make subject to themselves the temple of God, that it may give in to their ungodly wills?
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
This, in the singing of it, we may apply to the enemies of the gospel-church, all anti-christian powers and factions, representing to God their confederacies against Christ and his kingdom, and rejoicing in the hope that all their projects will be baffled and the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church.
), the pleasant places of God (so the word is), by which we may understand the land of Canaan, which was a pleasant land and was Immanuel's land, or the temple, which was indeed God's pleasant place ( Isa. lxiv.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Who said,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. Viewing the temple, and also the dwellings of the tribes, as all belonging to God, these greedy plunderers determined to push out the inhabitants, slay them, and become themselves landlords and tenants of the whole. These were large words and dark designs, but God could bring them all to nothing. It is in vain for men to say "Let us take, "if God does not give.
Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. Viewing the temple, and also the dwellings of the tribes, as all belonging to God, these greedy plunderers determined to push out the inhabitants, slay them, and become themselves landlords and tenants of the whole. These were large words and dark designs, but God could bring them all to nothing. It is in vain for men to say "Let us take, "if God does not give. He who robs God's house will find that he has a property reeking with a curse; it will plague him and his seed for ever. "Will a man rob God?" Let him try it, and he will find it hot and heavy work.
Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession - Nearly the words spoken by the confederates when they came to attack Jehoshaphat. They come (says the king in address to God) to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit. See 2Ch 20:11.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession - The houses of God here mean the habitations of God, or the places where he dwelt among the people. As there was but one ark, one tabernacle, and one temple, or one place of constituted public worship, this must refer to other places where God was worshipped, or where he might be supposed to reside; either to synagogues (see the notes at Psa 74:8), or to the private dwellings of the people regarded as a holy people, or as a people among whom God dwelt. This may, therefore, imply that their dwellings - their private abodes - were also dwelling-places of God, as now the house of a religious family - a place where God is regularly worshipped - may be regarded as an abode of God on the earth. The language here is not to be understood as that of Oreb and Zeeb, of Zebah and Zalmunna, but of the enemies referred to in the psalm, who had entered into the conspiracy to destroy the Hebrew nation. They had said, “Let us inherit the houses of God;” that is, Let us take to ourselves, and for our possession, the dwellings of the land where God is supposed to reside.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
They were destroyed in En-Dor I do not know which of the wars took place in En-Dor, that of Gideon or that of Barak.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Who said These nations mentioned above: Edom, Ishmael, and all their allies.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| אָ֭מְרוּ | ʾameru | they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| נִ֣ירֲשָׁה | nirashah | let us take possession of | H3423 → | 231 times |
| לָּ֑נוּ | lanu | for ourselves | ||
| אֵ֝֗ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נְא֣וֹת | neot | [the] pastures of | H4999 → | 12 times |
| אֱלֹהִֽים׃ | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
אֲשֶׁ֣רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
אָ֭מְרוּthey said
ʾameruH559 →5305 times
נִ֣ירֲשָׁהlet us take possession of
nirashahH3423 →231 times
לָּ֑נוּfor ourselves
lanu
אֵ֝֗ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
נְא֣וֹת[the] pastures of
neotH4999 →12 times
אֱלֹהִֽים׃God
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 83:4saying, “Come, let us erase them as a nation; may the name of Israel be remembered no more.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 48:2
There is no longer praise for Moab; in Heshbon they devise evil against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’ You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will…
- Jeremiah 11:19
For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from…
- Esther 3:6–9
And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of…
- Psalms 74:8
They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.
- Acts 9:1–2
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest
- Jeremiah 48:2
Through
2 Chronicles 20:11See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession that You gave us as an inheritance.
it leads to
- Psalms 83:3–12
With cunning they scheme against Your people and conspire against those You cherish,
- Genesis 44:4
They had not gone far from the city when Joseph told his steward, “Pursue the men at once, and when you overtake them, ask, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?
- Jeremiah 18:20
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.
- Psalms 83:3–12
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 83; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jerome, Homily 15, on Psalm 82; Jerome, Homily 62, on Psalm 82 (Alternate Series); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.