For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
Parallel Translations
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For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
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For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
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(83-3) For, lo, Thine enemies are in an uproar; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Psalms 83:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 81:15 The haters of Yahweh would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.
- Matthew 27:24 So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it.”
- Judges 8:28 So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. The land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
- Isaiah 17:12 Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!
- Jeremiah 1:19 They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says Yahweh, “to rescue you.”
- 2 Kings 19:28 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.’
- Psalms 2:1-2 Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,
- Psalms 74:4 Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.
- Psalms 74:23 Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.
- Psalms 75:4-5 I said to the arrogant, “Don’t boast!” I said to the wicked, “Don’t lift up the horn. Don’t lift up your horn on high. Don’t speak with a stiff neck.”
- Psalms 93:3 The floods have lifted up, Yahweh, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.
- Isaiah 37:23 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 37:29 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
- Daniel 5:20-23 But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. He was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals’, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will. “You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, or hear, or know; and you have not glorified the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways.
- Acts 4:25-27 who by the mouth of your servant, David, said, ‘Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take council together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.’ “For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed,
- Acts 16:22 The multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore their clothes from them, then commanded them to be beaten with rods.
- Acts 17:5 But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.
- Acts 19:28-41 When they heard this they were filled with anger, and cried out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” The whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel. When Paul wanted to enter in to the people, the disciples didn’t allow him. Certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent to him and begged him not to venture into the theater. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was in confusion. Most of them didn’t know why they had come together. They brought Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. Alexander beckoned with his hand, and would have made a defense to the people. But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice for a time of about two hours cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” When the town clerk had quieted the multitude, he said, “You men of Ephesus, what man is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great goddess Artemis, and of the image which fell down from Zeus? Seeing then that these things can’t be denied, you ought to be quiet and to do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a matter against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them press charges against one another. But if you seek anything about other matters, it will be settled in the regular assembly. For indeed we are in danger of being accused concerning today’s riot, there being no cause. Concerning it, we wouldn’t be able to give an account of this commotion.” When he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
- Acts 21:30 All the city was moved and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple. Immediately the doors were shut.
- Acts 22:22 They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn’t fit to live!”
- Acts 23:10 When a great argument arose, the commanding officer, fearing that Paul would be torn in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 2 For, behold! thy enemies are tumultuous. As an…
2 For, behold! thy enemies are tumultuous. As an argument for enforcing the prayer of the preceding verse, it is affirmed that the faithful are oppressed both by the impetuous violence and the crafty policy of their enemies, which, to all human appearance, rendered their escape from death utterly hopeless. When it is said that they are tumultuous and lift up the head, the meaning is, that relying upon their own power, they behave themselves insolently and proudly. By this conduct on the part of their enemies, the minds of the people of God are greatly depressed, and the only way in which they can obtain relief, is by making their moan to Him whose continual work it is to repress the proud. When, therefore, the saints implore his aid, it is their ordinary course to lay before him the perverseness of their enemies. It is worthy of notice, that those who molest the Church are called the enemies of God.
It affords us no small ground of confidence that those who are our enemies are also God’s enemies. This is one of the fruits of his free and gracious covenant, in which he has promised to be an enemy to all our enemies, — a promise for which there is good cause, when it is considered that the welfare of his people, whom he has taken under his protection, cannot be assailed without an injury being, at the same the done to his own majesty. Meanwhile, let us live at peace with all men, as much as in us lies, and let us endeavor to practice uprightness in our whole deportment, that we may be able confidently to appeal to God, that when we suffer at the hands of men, we suffer wrongfully. The pride and violent assaults of our enemies may be combined with craftiness. But when such is the case, it becomes us to yield to God the honor which belongs to him, by resting satisfied that He can succor us; for to break the proud who foam out their rage, and to take the crafty in their own craftiness, is work which He has been accustomed to perform in all ages. To keep us from thinking that we are abandoned to the snares and traps of our enemies, the prophet here seasonably sets before us a consideration calculated to administer the highest consolation and hope, when he calls us God’s hidden ones This expression is understood by some as meaning that the aid and protection which God extends to us, is not apparent to the eye of sense and reason; just as it is said elsewhere of the life of the people of God, that it is hid, (Colossians 3:3.) But this interpretation is too forced, and altogether inconsistent both with the scope of the passage and the natural construction of the words. The design of them is simply to teach that we are hidden under the shadow of God’s wings; for although to outward appearance we lie open, and are exposed to the will of the wicked and the proud, we are preserved by the hidden power of God. Accordingly, it is said in another Psalm, (27:5,)
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“In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.” (Psalm 27:5)
It is, however, at the same time to be observed, that none are hid under the keeping and protection of God but those who, renouncing all dependence on their own strength, betake themselves with fear and trembling to Him. Such as under the influence of a flattering belief in the sufficiency of their own strength to resist, boldly enter the conflict, and, as if devoid of all fear, wax wanton, will ultimately suffer the consequences which result from inadequate resources. We will then best consult our own safety by taking shelter under the shadow of the Almighty, and, conscious of our own weakness, committing our salvation to him, casting it, so to speak, into his bosom.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He calleth them God’s enemies, which are enemies to…
He calleth them God’s enemies, which are enemies to his Church.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 83:2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult:…
Psa 83:2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
Ver. 2. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult] Concurrunt magno impetu, conatu, et ardore, Thine, because ours; for there is a league offensive and defensive between God and his people; the Church must, therefore, needs be invincible, because God is so.
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Have lifted up the head] Being insolent and confident, they bear their noses high in the air, uttering loud and lofty language; as did Rabshakeh, sent by Sennacherib, 2Ki 18:17, to which times some refer this psalm, as others to those of Jehoshaphat, 2Ch 20:1-2 (Kimchi).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Thine enemies; they are not only enemies to us…
Thine enemies; they are not only enemies to us thy people, but also to thy will, and name, and glory.
Make a tumult; or, make a tumultuous noise, both with their tongues reproaching thee and threatening us, and with their arms.
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Have lift up the head; are grown potent, and insolent, and scornful.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult,.... Or "a…
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult,.... Or "a noise" (d): wicked men are commonly noisy, roaring out their blasphemies against God, belching out oaths and curses, and breathing threatenings and slaughter against the saints; especially a numerous army of them, consisting of many people and nations, as this did; who are called the Lord's "enemies", being the enemies of his people, and their cause and his are one and the same; and besides, all wicked men are enemies to God, and all that is good, in their minds, and which appears by their actions; yea, they are enmity itself unto him:
and they that hate thee have lift up the head; are haughty, proud, and arrogant; speak loftily, and with a stiff neck; set their mouth against heaven, and God in it; and their tongue walks through the earth, and spares none; they exult and rejoice, as sure of victory, before the battle is fought; such then were, and such there are, who are haters of God, hate his being, perfections, purposes, and providences; hate his Son without a cause, and even do despite unto the Spirit of grace; hate the law and its precepts, the Gospel and its doctrines and ordinances, and the ways, worship, and people of God, as appears by what follows.
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(d) "sonuerunt", V. L. "perstrepunt", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "strepunt", Gejerus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Thine enemies make a tumult] They are…
Verse 2. Thine enemies make a tumult] They are not merely the enemies of thy people, but they are the enemies of thyself, thy worship, ordinances, and laws: "They make a tumult," they throng together.
They - have lifted up the head.] They have made an irruption into the land of Judea, and encamped at En-gedi, by the Dead Sea, 2Ch 20:1-2.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult - Are…
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult - Are excited; are aroused; are moving in a wild, furious, tumultuous manner, rushing on to the accomplishment of their designs. They come like rolling waves of the sea. See the word used here explained in the notes at Psa 2:1, where it is rendered, in the text, “rage;” in the margin, “tumultuously assemble.”
And they that hate thee - Thine enemies; the enemies of thy cause, and of thy people. Who they were is specified in Psa 83:6-8.
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Have lifted up the head - Have become proud; bold; confident of success, all of which is indicated by the phrase “lifted up the head.” The head is bowed down in penitence and trouble; pride lifts it up; boldness, confidence, and wickedness, are indicated by its being thus lifted up.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Tumult—Uproar, a disorderly noise. In contrast to the…
2. Tumult—Uproar, a disorderly noise. In contrast to the silence of God, deprecated in Psa_83:1.
Lifted up the head—An expression of haughtiness and confidence of victory, in opposition to the “hanging down the head” of captives. Lam_2:10; Jdg_8:28
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. make a tumult] A word denoting the uproar…
2. make a tumult] A word denoting the uproar and tumult of a throng of people: the substantive for multitude, frequently used of a great army, is derived from it: cp. Psa_46:3; Psa_46:6; Isa_17:12; Isa_29:5; Isa_29:7-8; 2Ch_20:2; 2Ch_20:12; 2Ch_20:15; 2Ch_20:24.
thine enemies … they that hate thee] For Israel’s enemies are Jehovah’s enemies: their plot to destroy His people is a plot to frustrate the purposes and put an end to the worship of Jehovah. Cp. against thee, Psa_83:5; and Jdg_5:31.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Make a tumult.—Literally, roar like the sea. So…
(2) Make a tumult.—Literally, roar like the sea. So (correctly) LXX. and Vulg. (See Psa_46:3.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For, lo, thine enemies; i.e. Israel"s enemies, who are…
For, lo, thine enemies; i.e. Israel"s enemies, who are also "thine enemies". (see the comment on Psa_81:15) make a tumult; literally, make a roaring, like the roaring of the sea. (comp. Psa_46:3 Isa_17:12) And they that hate thee. (compare "the haters of the Lord," in Psa_81:15) Have lifted up the head; i.e. raised themselves up against thee taken a menacing attitude. (comp. Jud_1:8:28)
The foes of the Church are the foes of God.
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The psalmist calls the enemies of his nation Gods enemies. "Thine enemies make a tumult." But it would not be a matter interesting to us, or one about which we could pray, if they were God"s enemies only. The point of importance is that they are God"s enemies just because they are ours. We find the best relief from the fear of what they may do, in thinking that God counts them to be his enemies; and if we cannot defend ourselves from them, God can defend us. So this realization that our enemies are God"s enemies becomes
(1) a ground of appeal;
(2) a restful consolation; and
(3) a source of strength.
Work this out in relation to the Jewish nation. In a special and representative sense the Jewish nation was Jehovah"s nation. So the Church, as a spiritual body the kingdom of God is Christ"s Church. And as everything related to the Jewish nation was of direct concern to Jehovah, and had his active interference as required, so everything related to the Church is of direct concern to the living Christ; and he, by his presiding Spirit, ever actively interferes, as may be required. Passing within the Church, the truth may be applied to each believer. His foes cannot be exclusively his. Being bound up with Christ, Christ is bound up with all his interests. The believer"s friends are Christ"s friends; the believer"s foes are Christ"s foes.
I THIS RELATION CONNECTS GOD WITH THE NATION"S PROGRESS. This is illustrated in the history. A tribe of slaves came to be an ordered nation, through an experience of good and evil. God was sympathetically and actively present in all the various steps of the national progress Apply to the development of the Christian Church through a variety of hard and anxious experiences. Foes of heresy, persecution, etc.
II THIS RELATION CONNECTS GOD WITH THE NATION"S DISASTERS. Compare the expression, "In all their affliction he was afflicted." There had been disasters in the Jewish history, but God was in them for recovery and for sanctifying. Apply to the "dark ages" of the Christian history. Since our foes are God"s foes, they cannot overwhelm us. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 2. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult.…
Ver. 2. 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 adversaries of the church are usually a noisy and a boastful crew. Their pride is a brass which always sounds, a cymbal which is ever tinkling.
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Ver. 2. For, lo. The prayer begins with the particle lo, which has not only the force of arousing God, but also give the idea of something present, with the view of pointing out the opportune moment for God to gird himself for the work. Hermann Venema.
Ver. 2. Thine enemies make a tumult. The whole world is but like an army, a brigade of men (as it were) under a general; and God is the Lord of Hosts, that is the Lord of his armies: now when there is a tumult in an army, they complain to the officers, to the general especially; and he must come and suppress it. Therefore, saith he, Thou Lord of hosts, thou art general of the world; lo, there is a tumult in the world, a mutiny. Walter Cradock.
None.
Psalms 83:3*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.