See how Your enemies rage, how Your foes have reared their heads.
Parallel translations
- WEB For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
- KJV For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
- NKJV For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
- NASB For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, And those who hate You have exalted themselves.
- NLT Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies? Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?
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
God's enemies are in an uproar and those who hate Him lift their heads in defiance. The threat against Israel is ultimately a rebellion against God.
Overview
The psalmist sees the surrounding nations not merely as Israel's foes but as God's enemies, raising their heads in proud hostility. This reframes the conflict around God's honor and rule. It assures believers that opposition to God's people is opposition to God Himself, who will not let such defiance stand.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Ps 81:15Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience, and their doom would last forever.
- Matt 27:24When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”
- Isa 17:12Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.
- Judg 8:28In this way Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon,
- Jer 1:19They will fight against you but will never overcome you, since I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.
- Isa 37:29Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- Acts 16:22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped and beaten with rods.
- 2 Kgs 19:28Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- Ps 74:23Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
- Acts 22:22The crowd listened to Paul until he made this statement. Then they lifted up their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He is not fit to live!”
- Acts 19:28–41When the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
- Dan 5:20–23But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.
- Acts 17:5The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.
- Acts 4:25–27You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Ps 2:1–2Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Ps 93:3The floodwaters have risen, O LORD; the rivers have raised their voice; the seas lift up their pounding waves.
- Acts 23:10The dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down and remove him by force and bring him into the barracks.
- Ps 75:4–5I say to the proud, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.
- Acts 21:30The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.
- Isa 37:23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
- Ps 74:4Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 83:2 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.