Psalm 83–84

A Request to Act against Israel’s Neighbors

83A song. A psalm of Asaph.^a

¹O God, do not rest silently.

Do not keep silent or be still, O God.

²For look, your enemies roar,

and those who hate you have lifted their head.

³They devise cunning schemes^b against your people,

and consult together against your protected ones.^c

⁴They say, “Come, let us annihilate them from being a nation,

so that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

⁵For they have consulted together with a unified purpose.^d

They have made a covenant against you:

⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,

Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.

⁸Assyria also has joined with them.

They provide help^e to the children of Lot. Selah

⁹Do to them as you did with Midian,

as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the wadi of Kishon.

¹⁰They were destroyed at En-dor;

they became dung for the ground.

¹¹Make their leaders like Oreb and Zeeb,

and all their chiefs like Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹²who said, “Let us take as our possession

the pastures of God.”

¹³O my God, make them like the tumbleweed,

like the chaff before wind.

¹⁴As fire burns a forest,

and as a flame sets afire mountains,

¹⁵so pursue them with your tempest

and terrify them with your storm.

¹⁶Fill their faces with shame,

that they may seek your name, O Yahweh.

¹⁷Let them be ashamed and terrified forever,

and let them be humiliated and perish

¹⁸that they may know that you,

whose name is Yahweh, you alone,

are the Most High over the whole earth.

The Joy of Worshiping in the Temple

84For the music director; on the Gittith.

Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.^a

¹How lovely are your dwelling places,

O Yahweh of hosts!

²My soul longs and even fails

for the courtyards of Yahweh.

My heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

³Even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

near your altars, O Yahweh of hosts,

my king and my God.

⁴Blessed are those who dwell in your house;^b

they can ever praise you. Selah

⁵Blessed is the man whose strength is in you;

in their heart are the highways to Zion.

⁶Passing through the Valley of Baca,^c

they make it a spring.

The early rain covers it with blessings^d as well.

⁷They go from strength to strength,

until each appears before God in Zion.^e

⁸O Yahweh, God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah

⁹Look at our shield, O God,

and have regard for the face of your anointed one.

¹⁰Because better is a day in your courtyards

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be at the threshold of the house^f of my God

than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹Because Yahweh God is a sun and a shield;

Yahweh gives grace and honor.

He does not withhold good from those who walk blamelessly.

¹²O Yahweh of hosts,

blessed is the man who trusts you.