831 O God , do not remain quiet ; Do not be silent and, O God , do not be still . 2 For behold , Your enemies make an uproar , And those who hate You have exalted themselves . 3 They make shrewd plans against Your people , And conspire together against Your treasured ones. 4 They have said , "Come , and let us wipe them out as a nation , That the name of Israel be remembered no more ." 5 For they have conspired together with one mind ; Against You they make a covenant : 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites , Moab and the Hagrites ; 7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek , Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre ; 8 Assyria also has joined with them; They have become a help to the children of Lot . Selah .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 83:1-8
Commentary on Psalm 83:1-8
(Read Psalm 83:1-8)
Sometimes God seems not to be concerned at the unjust treatment of his people. But then we may call upon him, as the psalmist here. All wicked people are God's enemies, especially wicked persecutors. The Lord's people are his hidden one; the world knows them not. He takes them under his special protection. Do the enemies of the church act with one consent to destroy it, and shall not the friends of the church be united? Wicked men wish that there might be no religion among mankind. They would gladly see all its restraints shaken off, and all that preach, profess, or practise it, cut off. This they would bring to pass if it were in their power. The enemies of God's church have always been many: this magnifies the power of the Lord in preserving to himself a church in the world.