“Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 83:17 Mean?
"Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish." Asaph prays for the permanent defeat of Israel's enemies — a coalition of nations that conspired to "cut them off from being a nation" (v. 4). The prayer is for confusion, trouble, shame, and perishing. The four consequences escalate: confounded (internally confused), troubled (externally disrupted), put to shame (publicly humiliated), and perish (permanently ended).
The imprecatory force of the prayer must be read in context: these enemies aren't personal rivals. They're nations actively plotting genocide against God's people. The prayer for their destruction is a prayer for Israel's survival. If the enemies succeed, Israel ceases to exist.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does the genocidal context (enemies trying to erase Israel) change how you read this imprecatory prayer?
- 2.What's the relationship between praying for enemies' defeat and praying for God's glory to be known?
- 3.When is a prayer for someone's downfall actually a prayer for something larger than personal vindication?
- 4.How do you hold together the severity of imprecatory prayer with the ultimate purpose of God being known?
Devotional
Confounded. Troubled. Shamed. Perished. Asaph's prayer escalates through four stages of defeat for enemies who planned to erase Israel from existence.
The context is survival, not revenge. Verse 4: "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." This isn't a personal grudge. This is genocide. The enemy coalition has one goal: eliminate Israel permanently. Erase the name. End the people. And Asaph prays for their defeat with the desperation of someone whose existence depends on it.
The escalation matters: confounded first (let them lose internal coherence — let their plans stop making sense to themselves). Then troubled (let the confusion produce external consequences — economic collapse, military setbacks). Then shamed (let the world see their failure — public humiliation that discredits their anti-Israel agenda). Then perish (let it be permanent — don't let them recover to try again).
But the next verse reveals the ultimate purpose of the prayer: "That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth" (v. 18). The destruction of Israel's enemies isn't the endgame. God's glory is. The enemies' defeat serves a larger revelation: every nation will know who God is.
Asaph doesn't want destruction for destruction's sake. He wants the world to recognize God through the defeat of those who tried to eliminate his people. The prayer for perishing serves the prayer for knowing. The enemies' end becomes the nations' education.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Let them be confounded and troubled for ever,.... As long as they are in this world, and to all eternity in another; a…
Let them be confounded - Let them be ashamed. That is, Let them have that kind of shame and confusion which results from…
The psalmist here, in the name of the church, prays for the destruction of those confederate forces, and, in God's name,…
Let them be ashamed and dismayed for ever;
Yea, let them be put to confusion and perish:
Cross References
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