Psalms 83:2
in Psalms 83See how Your enemies rage, how Your foes have reared their heads.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult; And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
KJV
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
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This verse in Psalms 83
Commentary
3 notes on this verseFor behold, your enemies have made a din. The heretics speak out, and the men of the Church keep silent; they make a noise, and we are quiet; they blaspheme, and we do not bark back. For behold, your enemies have made a din. Beautifully did he say, they have made a din: for it is not speech adorned for building up, but only a disordered clamor for tearing down. And those who hate you have lifted up their head. So great is the multitude of the heretics, and so small the number of those who believe in you.
This site's exposition
Keep not thou silence, O God
on Psalms 83:1-2
The prayer opens with a triple plea against divine silence, keep not thou silence, hold not thy peace, be not still, addressed three ways to a God who has, from the speaker's vantage, gone quiet while danger gathers. Thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lifted up the head describes an active, rising threat rather than a settled grievance, hostility already in motion against the nation. The psalm names the enemies as God's own enemies before it names them as Israel's, framing the whole conflict as an attack on the Lord himself.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult. They are by no means sparing of their words, they are like a hungry pack of dogs, all giving tongue at once. So sure are they of devouring thy people that they already shout over the feast. And they that hate thee have lifted up the head. Confident of conquest, they carry themselves proudly and exalt themselves as if their anticipated victories were already obtained. These enemies of Israel were also God's enemies, and are here described as such by way of adding intensity to the argument of the intercession.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הִנֵּ֣ה | hineh | here! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| א֭וֹיְבֶיךָ | ʾoyveikha | enemies your | H341 → | 282 times |
| יֶהֱמָי֑וּן | yehemayun | they are in an uproar ! | H1993 → | 34 times |
| וּ֝מְשַׂנְאֶ֗יךָ | umesaneikha | and [those who] hate you | H8130 → | 146 times |
| נָ֣שְׂאוּ | naseu | they have lifted | H5375 → | 656 times |
| רֹֽאשׁ׃ | rosh | a head | H7218 → | 599 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
הִנֵּ֣הhere!
hinehH2009 →843 times
א֭וֹיְבֶיךָenemies your
ʾoyveikhaH341 →282 times
יֶהֱמָי֑וּןthey are in an uproar !
yehemayunH1993 →34 times
וּ֝מְשַׂנְאֶ֗יךָand [those who] hate you
umesaneikhaH8130 →146 times
נָ֣שְׂאוּthey have lifted
naseuH5375 →656 times
רֹֽאשׁ׃a head
roshH7218 →599 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
Jeremiah 1:19They will fight against you but will never overcome you, since I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.
it leads to
- Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
- Jeremiah 1:8
Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 20:11
But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly put to shame, with an everlasting…
- Psalms 129:2
many a time they have persecuted me from my youth, but they have not prevailed against me.
- Jeremiah 29:25–32
this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “In your own name you have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah,…
- Joshua 1:9
Through
Psalms 81:15Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 7:10
But those who hate Him He repays to their faces with destruction; He will not hesitate to repay to his face the one who hates Him.
- Deuteronomy 7:10
Through
Matthew 27:24When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he…
it leads to
- Matthew 27:4
“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”
- Psalms 26:6
I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,
- Matthew 27:4
About Psalms
This page draws on Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jerome, Homily 62, on Psalm 82 (Alternate Series) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.