Do Not Hold Your Peace

This psalm may be written in a time of despair and oppression for Israel. There is a call to God to act on behalf of His people. The enemies are scheming to not only defeat Israel but to annihilate them completely - something which has exact parallel even today.

The enemies listed here include the Edomites, Ishmaelites, Moab, Hagrites, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, Philistia, Assyria. So the psalmist calls upon God and gives description of how the enemies should be treated. And finally, the goal would be to show their enemies "That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth."


Psalm 83
A Song. A Psalm of Asaph

 1 Do not keep silent, O God!
         Do not hold Your peace,
         And do not be still, O God!
 2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
         And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
         And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
         That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
        
 5 For they have consulted together with one consent;
         They form a confederacy against You:
 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
         Moab and the Hagrites;
 7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
         Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
 8 Assyria also has joined with them;
         They have helped the children of Lot.  Selah 
        
 9 Deal with them as with Midian,
         As with Sisera,
         As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon,
 10 Who perished at En Dor,
         Who became as refuse on the earth.
 11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
         Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
 12 Who said, “Let us take for ourselves
         The pastures of God for a possession.”
        
 13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust,
         Like the chaff before the wind!
 14 As the fire burns the woods,
         And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
 15 So pursue them with Your tempest,
         And frighten them with Your storm.
 16 Fill their faces with shame,
         That they may seek Your name, O LORD.
 17 Let them be confounded and dismayed forever;
         Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
 18 That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD,
         Are the Most High over all the earth.