gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
peace
תֶּחֱרַ֖שׁte.che.Rash
H2790
to scratch · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
still
תִּשְׁקֹ֣טtish.Kot
H8252
to repose (usually figurative) · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
God
אֵֽל'El
H410
strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 28:1 Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Psalms 35:22 This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.
Psalms 50:3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
Isaiah 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour…
Psalms 44:23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 83:1-8
The Israel of God were now in danger, and fear, and great distress, and yet their prayer is called, A song or psalm; for singing psalms is not unseasonable, no, not when the harps are hung upon the willow-trees.
I. The psalmist here begs of God to appear on the behalf of his injured threatened people (Psa 83:1): "Keep not thou silence, O God! but give judgment for us against those that do us an apparent wrong." Thus Jehoshaphat prayed upon occasion of that invasion (Ch2 20:11), Behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession. Sometimes God seems to connive at the unjust treatment which is given to his people; he keeps silence, as one that either did not observe it or did…
Keep not thou silence, O God,.... Which he is thought and said to do, when he does not answer the prayers of his people, nor plead their cause, nor rebuke their enemies; when he does not speak a good word to them, or one for them, or one against those that hate and persecute them;
hold not thy peace; or "be not deaf" (b) to the cries and tears of his people, and to the reproaches, menaces, and blasphemies of wicked men:
and be not still, O God; or "quiet" (c), at rest and ease, inactive and unconcerned, as if he cared not how things went; the reason follows.
(b) "ne obsurdescas", Vatablus; "ne surdum agas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ne quasi surdus et mutus sis", Michaelis. (c) "ne…
Psalm 83:1-4
1. O God! keep not silence with thyself; hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God! 2. For, behold! Thy enemies are tumultuous: and those who hate thee have lifted up the head. 3. They have formed a crafty design against thy people, and have consulted against thy hidden ones. 4. They have said, Come and let us cut them off from being a nation; and let the name of Israel be no more remembered.
1 O God! hold not thy peace. It is very generally agreed among commentators, that this psalm was composed during the reign of king Jehoshaphat; and in this opinion I readily concur. That godly king, as is well known, had to engage in dreadful wars against multiplied hosts of enemies. Al…
The Church Fathers
O God, who shall be like unto you? Since there is none like you, we seek no other author but you. Be not silent, neither be still, O God. We keep silent; do you speak on our behalf. It is the voice of the righteous man: he who says, "Neither be still, O God," is confident of his own righteousness.
O God, who shall be like you? None shall be like you. Do not keep silent, nor be restrained, O God. It is a man of the Church who speaks, from whose belly flow rivers of living water. For he sees that the harvest is great and the laborers few: a vast multitude of believers, and only a modest teaching from the masters; many heretics, many adversaries, and few warriors to do battle for Christ. Do not keep silent, nor be restrained, O God. Why this?
The people of God, then, in this Psalm saith, "O God, who shall be like unto Thee?" (ver. 1). Which I suppose to be more fitly taken of Christ, because, being made in the likeness of men, He was thought by those by whom He was despised to be comparable to other men: for He was even "reckoned among the unrighteous," but for this purpose, that He might be judged. But when He shall come to judge, then shall be done what is here said, "O God, who is like unto Thee?" For if the Psalms did not use to speak to the Lord Christ, that too would not be spoken which not one of the faithful can doubt was spoken unto Christ. "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom." To him therefore also now it is said, "O God, who shall be like unto Thee?" For unto many Thou didst vouchsafe to be likened in Thy humiliation, even so far as to the robbers that were crucified with Thee: but when in glory Thou shalt come, "who shall be like unto Thee?"...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Oreb — Raven, a prince of Midian, who, being defeated by Gideon and put to straits, was slain along with Zeeb (Judg. 7:20-25). Many of the Midianites perished along with him (Ps. 83:9; Isa. 10:26).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The poet prays, may God not remain an inactive looker-on in connection with the danger of destruction that threatens His people. דּמי (with which יהי is to be supplied) is the opposite of alertness; חרשׁ the opposite of speaking (in connection with which it is assumed that God's word is at the same time deed); שׁקט the opposite of being agitated and activity. The energetic future jehemajûn gives outward emphasis to the confirmation of the petition, and the fact that Israel's foes are the foes of God gives inward emphasis to it. On נשׂא ראשׁ, cf. Psa 110:7. סוד is here a secret agreement; and יערימוּ, elsewhere to deal craftily, here signifies to craftily plot, devise, bring a thing about. צ…
Ps 83 This community lament asks God for rescue and victory. The terse poetry suggests difficult times. A powerful coalition desires to destroy Israel (83:1-4) and allies itself against God (83:5-8). Recalling the fate of others who came against Israel (83:9-12), the psalmist prays that the same will happen to these enemies (83:13-16) so that God will receive honor among them (83:17-18). It is unclear whether this psalm arose out of a specific historical instance of opposition by these nations, or if it is a poetic collage of nations representing Israel’s enemies.
83:1-4 The enemy has successfully intimidated God’s people, so the poet prays that the Lord will hear and act.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 83:1
Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
Keep not thou silence, O God. Man is clamorous, be not thou speechless. He rails and reviles, wilt not thou reply? On word of thine can deliver thy people; therefore, O Lord, break thy quiet and let thy voice be heard. Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. Here the appeal is to El., the Mighty One. He is entreated to act and speak, because his nation suffers and is in great jeopardy. How entirely the psalmist looks to God; he asks not for "a leader bold and brave, "or for any form of human force, but casts his burden upon the Lord, being well assured that his eternal power and Godhead could meet every difficul…
