Tag: Imprecatory Psalms

Psalm 83:1-3 ” O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still. See how Your enemies are astir, how Your foes rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against Your people; they plot against those You cherish.”

Psalm 83 is one of five Psalms that are entitled Imprecatory Psalms.  So what’s imprecation?  It involves petitioning God’s wrath upon the wicked.  They were written with righteous indignation at what was seen as defilement and blasphemy of God’s reputation and actions.  They came from that deep place of aroused anger at seeing God’s name desecrated and everything He stands for ridiculed and mocked.  They were written not out of spite or wishing for revenge, but to verbally hand the entire issue over for God to deal with…for the battle is not ours but God’s, (I Samuel 17:47 & II Chronicles 20:15) and it’s His to judge at the appointed time.

Psalm 83:13 ” Make them like a tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the wind.”

Psalm 83 is one of the Imprecatory Psalms, where the writer is praying to invoke God’s wrath upon the wicked.  The invading enemy armies were  boasting of what they would do in verse 4, “Come, they say, let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.”  This prayer, written by Asaph, wasn’t just a harsh outburst of anger and resentment, but rather a carefully worded petition laid before the Lord for Him to come to Israel’s defense.  Asaph was asking the Lord to make the enemy army as helpless as  storm-driven leaves.