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so pursue them with your tempest, and terrify them with your storm.
Psalms 83:15 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.
  • BSB so pursue them with Your tempest, and terrify them with Your storm.
  • NKJV So pursue them with Your tempest, And frighten them with Your storm.
  • NASB So pursue them with Your heavy gale, And terrify them with Your storm.
  • NLT chase them with your fierce storm; terrify them with your tempest.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The psalmist asks God to pursue and terrify the enemies with His tempest and storm. He prays God's overwhelming might would overtake them.

Overview

Continuing the storm imagery, the prayer asks God to chase down the foes with the terror of His judgment. The God who commands wind and storm can rout any army. Such language is not personal vindictiveness but a plea for God to defend His name and people against those bent on their destruction.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 10

  • Job 9:17For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.
  • Ps 50:3Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
  • Isa 28:17I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.
  • Ps 58:9Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
  • Job 27:20–23Terrors overtake him like waters. A storm steals him away in the night.
  • Ps 11:6On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
  • Heb 12:18For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,
  • Matt 7:27The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”
  • Ezek 13:11–14Tell those who plaster it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, will fall. A stormy wind will tear it.
  • Isa 30:30Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 83:15YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 83:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.