Psalm 83:16 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord.

NIV: Cover their faces with shame, Lord, so that they will seek your name.

NASB: Fill their faces with dishonor, So that they will seek Your name, Lord.

CSB: Cover their faces with shame so that they will seek your name, Lord.

NLT: Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, O Lord.

KJV: Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Lord.

NKJV: Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O Lord.

Asaph (Psalm 83:1) asks the Lord to humiliate and embarrass Israel's enemies (Psalm 83:4–8), in hopes they will turn to God. The idea of shame is mentioned again in the following verse (Psalm 83:17). A coalition of enemies seek to annihilate Israel, so Asaph prays for God to intervene (Psalm 83:1–3). That begins by remembering victories of Israel's past (Psalm 83:9–12). It has progressed to explicitly call for harsh judgment. Asaph evokes God's power demonstrated in His creation of nature (Psalm 83:13–15).

Pagan religions have many gods, but they are false deities which could never do what the true God, the God of Israel, can. Asaph wanted a display of God's power, through the forces of nature, to persuade the enemy nations to turn to Him. When the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem, King Hezekiah offered a similar prayer. He prayed, "So now, O LORD our God, save us from his [the Assyrian's] hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD" (Isaiah 37:20).

Even though this is an "imprecatory" psalm, where the author calls for harm to come on someone else, Asaph's appeal is not out of control. Here, he speaks hopefully about the idea of these enemy nations turning towards God as they are convicted of sin. Of course, he fully expects that most will not do so (Psalm 83:17).

Psalm 83:9–18 comes after Asaph's plea: that God will stop the coalition of enemies attempting to destroy Israel. Here, Asaph directly asks the Lord to punish these opponents. He asks God to disgrace them, annihilate them, and make them acknowledge that the Lord alone is the Most High over all the earth. These requests place this song among the "imprecatory psalms."

Asaph prays for God to intervene in a conspiracy. Many nations cooperate to erase Israel and her legacy. He asks the Lord for protection, asking Him to repeat the harsh judgments brought on pagan nations in the past. Asaph extends this by asking God to bring destruction, ruin, and humiliation on these opponents. Despite this, Asaph recognizes that the proper goal is for these nations to recognize that God alone is Most High. This is one of several "imprecatory" psalms such as Psalm 5, 10, 17, 109, and 137, which request God to deliver severe harm on some enemy.

This is the last psalm identified with Asaph. It is one of the imprecatory psalms which call for harsh judgment from God. Other such psalms include 5, 10, 35, 109, and 137. The psalm is not explicitly connected to a historical event. It may refer to the attack on Jerusalem during the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20). Others see this as a general reference to the Gentile world's relentless attacks on Israel. Still others interpret this as a prophecy about a large-scale attack set to occur in the end times.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.