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Psalm 83:13

My God, make them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind.

11Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12who said, “Let’s take possession of God’s pasture lands.”
13My God, make them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind.
14As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,
15so pursue them with your tempest, and terrify them with your storm.
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← Psalm 83:12Psalm 83:14 →
Notice

Tumbleweed and chaff make this a stark prayer for enemies to be swept away, spoken against those seeking to seize lands that belong to God.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What troubles you about asking God to make people like chaff before the wind?

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How does the threat to God's pasture lands shape your reading of this prayer?

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What changes when judgment is addressed to God rather than taken into your own hands?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Job 21:18How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away?Both use chaff carried by wind; Job questions how often this happens, while the psalm asks God to make it happen.
Psalm 35:5Let them be as chaff before the wind, the LORD’s angel driving them on.Both prayers ask for enemies to become chaff before the wind, driven away through God's action.
Isaiah 40:24They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the …Both portray people swept away like dry plant matter, with God acting against them.
Psalm 74:11–12Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them!Both address God with a plea for action against enemies, asking him to scatter or consume them.
Job 13:25Will you harass a driven leaf? Will you pursue the dry stubble?Both compare people to fragile plant matter; Job protests being pursued, while the psalm asks God to scatter enemies.
Jeremiah 13:24“Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.Both describe people scattered like dry plant matter in the wind, one as prayer and the other as God's declaration.
Isaiah 17:12–14Ah, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!The shared thread is threatening peoples: Isaiah describes the nations' uproar, while the psalm asks God to scatter enemies.
Exodus 15:7In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.Both depict God's opponents as dry plant matter vulnerable to his judgment, using wind in the psalm and consuming wrath in Exodus.
Psalm 44:4God, you are my King. Command victories for Jacob!Both appeal to God for victory over opposition, trusting him to act on behalf of his people.
Matthew 3:12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up …Both use chaff as an image of people facing judgment, swept away in the psalm and burned in Matthew.
Psalm 22:1For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and …Both address God as “My God” in distress, though one seeks judgment and the other laments God's apparent absence.
Isaiah 41:2Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands over nations to him and makes him rule over kings. He gives them …Both picture opponents reduced to windblown plant matter through God's action, with Isaiah describing nations and kings.
Where this verse fits

Injustice and anger. fear for the future.

What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about fear →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Ask God to stop those threatening his people

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Encouragement

The prayer is severe: it asks God to scatter enemies. Its appeal rests on God's power over those who seek to take what belongs to him.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 83:13. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 83 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).