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Psalm 83:13-15
New English Translation
Psalm 83:13-15
New English Translation
13 O my God, make them like dead thistles,[a]
like dead weeds blown away by[b] the wind.
14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,
or the flames that consume the mountainsides,[c]
15 chase them with your gale winds,
and terrify[d] them with your windstorm.
Footnotes
- Psalm 83:13 tn Or “tumbleweed.” The Hebrew noun גַּלְגַּל (galgal) refers to a “wheel” or, metaphorically, to a whirling wind (see Ps 77:18). If taken in the latter sense here, one could understand the term as a metonymical reference to dust blown by a whirlwind (cf. NRSV “like whirling dust”). However, HALOT 190 s.v. II גַּלְגַּל understands the noun as a homonym referring to a “dead thistle” here and in Isa 17:13. The parallel line, which refers to קַשׁ (qash, “chaff”), favors this interpretation.
- Psalm 83:13 tn Heb “before.”
- Psalm 83:14 sn The imagery of fire and flames suggests unrelenting, destructive judgment.
- Psalm 83:15 tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 15 express the psalmist’s wish or prayer.
New English Translation (NET)
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