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Psalm 83:3

They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones.

1A song. A Psalm by Asaph. God, don’t keep silent. Don’t keep silent, and don’t be still, God.
2For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
3They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones.
4“Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
5For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you.
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← Psalm 83:2Psalm 83:4 →
Notice

“Your cherished ones” names Israel’s bond with God within a prayer about enemies plotting its destruction, leaving the threat and that bond in plain sight.

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

What tension do you hear between “cherished ones” and the plot against them?

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How does Israel’s threatened destruction shape the way you read the word “conspire”?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

9 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
Psalm 64:2Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil;Both prayers name a conspiracy, with Psalm 64 asking for shelter from the kind of plotting Psalm 83 describes.
Psalm 27:5For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.Both passages concern people facing trouble in relation to God; Psalm 27 speaks of shelter, while Psalm 83 names the threat.
Psalm 31:20In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.Human plotting appears in both passages, with Psalm 31 describing God’s shelter from the danger Psalm 83 brings before him.
Isaiah 7:6–7Both texts describe coordinated plans against a people: Israel faces destruction in Psalm 83, while Judah faces invasion and an imposed king.
1 Kings 17:3“Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.The link is limited: Psalm 83 describes a plot against God’s people, while this instruction in 1 Kings concerns hiding.
Psalm 71:10For my enemies talk about me. Those who watch for my soul conspire together,Both prayers report enemies conspiring together, with Psalm 71 describing an individual’s danger and Psalm 83 a people’s danger.
Luke 20:20–23They watched him and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and …Both texts describe calculated hostility: enemies conspire against Israel, and spies use a pretense of righteousness to trap Jesus.
Colossians 3:3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.Both texts speak of people’s bond with God, though Colossians names life hidden with Christ and Psalm 83 names cherished people under threat.
1 Samuel 13:19Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears”;Both texts describe deliberate hostile plans against Israel, with the Philistines restricting access to weapons in 1 Samuel.
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

Pray for one community facing threats of violence

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Encouragement

Being cherished by God does not make the threat in this prayer unreal. Israel is in danger, and the prayer still names them as people who belong to God.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 83:3. 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).