What the Bible Says About the Meaning of Asaph

Scripture

³¹ These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the Lord after the ark rested there.
³² They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they performed their service according to their order.
³³ These are the men who served and their sons. Of the Kohathites: Heman the singer, the son of Joel, son of Samuel,
³⁴ the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah,
³⁵ the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai,
³⁶ the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah,
³⁷ the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah,
³⁸ the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel.
³⁹ Heman’s brother Asaph stood on his right hand, while Merari’s son Ethan stood on his left hand. So did their brothers, the descendants of Merari, who were at their left hand.
⁴⁰ to be ministering in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, according to the ordinance of David their father.
⁴¹ The son of Ethan: Azariah.
⁴² the son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei,
⁴³ The son of Jahath, the son of Gershom, the son of Levi.
⁴⁴ And their kinsmen the sons of Merari stood on the left hand: Ethan the son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch,
⁴⁵ the son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah,
⁴⁶ the son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemer,
⁴⁷ the son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi.
⁴⁸ Their kinsmen the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

1 Chronicles 6:31-48

1 Chronicles 15:16-24: ¹⁶ David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.
¹⁷ So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari, their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;
¹⁸ and with them their brothers of the second order, Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.
¹⁹ The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound bronze cymbals;
²⁰ Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth;
²¹ but Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres according to the Sheminith.
²² Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in music, should direct the music, for he understood it.
²³ Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark.
²⁴ Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, should blow the trumpets before the ark of God. And Obed-edom and Jehiah were to be gatekeepers for the ark.

1 Chronicles 16:4-7: ⁴ Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
⁵ Asaph was the chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals,
⁶ and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.
⁷ Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers.

1 Chronicles 25:1-8: ¹ David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals.
² Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah, sons of Asaph, under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.
³ They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God.
⁴ Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth.
⁵ All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.
⁶ They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God.
⁷ The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was 288.
⁸ And they cast lots for their duties, small and great, teacher and pupil alike.

2 Chronicles 29:30: ³⁰ And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.

Nehemiah 12:46-47: ⁴⁶ For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.
⁴⁷ And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

Psalms 50:1-23: ⁵⁰ The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
³ Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest.
⁴ He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
⁵ “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
⁶ The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah
⁷ “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
⁸ Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
⁹ I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”
¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
¹⁴ Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High,
¹⁵ and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
¹⁶ But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?
¹⁷ For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
¹⁸ “If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.
¹⁹ “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.”
²⁰ “You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.”
²¹ These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
²² “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!”
²³ The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”

Psalms 73:1-28: ¹ Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
² But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
³ For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
⁴ For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
⁵ They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
⁷ Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
⁸ They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
¹⁰ Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.
¹¹ And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
¹² Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
¹³ All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
¹⁶ But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
¹⁷ Until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
¹⁸ Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
²⁰ Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
²¹ When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
²² I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.
²³ Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
²⁷ For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
²⁸ But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

Psalms 74:1-23: ¹ O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
² Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
³ Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
⁴ Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs.
⁵ They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees.
⁶ And all its carved wood they broke with hatchets and hammers.
⁷ They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.
⁸ They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
⁹ We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰ How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
¹² Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³ You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵ You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶ Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷ You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.
¹⁸ Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name.
¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever.
²⁰ Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
²¹ Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
²² Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
²³ Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

Psalms 75:1-10: ¹ We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.
² “At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.”
³ When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah
⁴ I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
⁵ do not lift up your horn on high or speak with haughty neck.
⁶ For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
⁷ but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
⁸ For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
⁹ But I will declare it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
¹⁰ “All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.”

Psalms 76:1-12: ¹ In Judah God is known;
his name is great in Israel.
² His abode has been established in Salem,
his dwelling place in Zion.
³ There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.
⁴ Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey.
⁵ The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.
⁶ At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider and horse lay stunned.
⁷ But you, you are to be feared!
Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?
⁸ From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still,
⁹ when God arose to establish judgment,
to save all the humble of the earth.
¹⁰ Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.
¹¹ Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared,
¹² he cuts off the spirit of princes;
he is to be feared by the kings of the earth.

Psalms 77:1-20: ¹ I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.
² In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.
³ When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah.
⁴ You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
⁵ I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
⁶ I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
⁷ “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?”
⁸ Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”
¹⁰ Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
¹² I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.
¹³ Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
¹⁵ You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. (ESV)
¹⁶ When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled.
¹⁷ The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
your arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸ Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.
²⁰ You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalms 78:1-72: ¹ Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
² I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³ things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
⁵ He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
⁶ that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
⁷ so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
⁸ and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
⁹ The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
¹¹ They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.
¹² marvelously he led them through the deep,
as through a desert.
¹³ He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
¹⁴ In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
¹⁵ He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
¹⁶ He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
¹⁷ Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
²¹ Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,
²² because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
²³ Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven.
²⁴ and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.
²⁶ He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;
²⁷ He rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas.
²⁸ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
²⁹ So they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
³⁰ They were not estranged from their craving;
yet while their food was still in their mouths,
³¹ The anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.
³² In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.
³³ Therefore, their days were consumed like a breath, and their years in terror.
³⁴ When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.
³⁶ But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he, being compassionate,
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not again.
⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!
⁴¹ They tested God again and again
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
⁴³ when he performed his signs in Egypt
and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
⁴⁴ Yet he gave them his attention when he heard their cry.
⁴⁵ He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamores with frost.
⁴⁸ he gave over their cattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
⁴⁹ He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
⁵⁰ He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.
⁵¹ He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
⁵² Then he led out his people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
⁵³ He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴ And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.
⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
⁵⁶ Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,
⁵⁷ But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like a deceitful bow.
⁵⁸ For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
⁵⁹ When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
⁶⁰ He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
⁶¹ and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.
⁶² He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage.
⁶³ Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no marriage song.
⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.
⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.
⁶⁶ And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
⁶⁷ Then he rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸ But he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.
⁶⁹ He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.
⁷⁰ He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹ from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.
⁷² With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand.

Psalms 79:1-13: ¹ O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
² They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the heavens for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
³ They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
⁴ We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.
⁵ How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
⁶ Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name;
⁷ For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.
⁸ Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.
⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!
¹⁰ Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes.
¹¹ Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
¹² Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors
the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
¹³ But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Psalms 80:1-19: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
² Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might
and come to save us!
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
⁴ O Lord God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
⁶ You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
⁷ Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹ You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
¹¹ It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.
¹² Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
¹³ The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
¹⁴ Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
¹⁵ the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
¹⁶ It is burned with fire; it is cut down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
¹⁷ But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
¹⁸ Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!
¹⁹ Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!
Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Psalms 81:1-16: ¹ Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
² Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.
³ Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
⁴ For it is a statute for Israel, a rule of the God of Jacob.
⁵ He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over the land of Egypt.
⁶ “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
⁷ In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
⁸ Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
⁹ There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
¹⁰ I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
¹¹ “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
¹³ Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
¹⁴ I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
¹⁶ But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Psalms 82:1-8: ¹ God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
² “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah”
³ Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
⁵ They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
⁶ I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
⁷ Nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.
⁸ Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!

Psalms 83:1-18: ¹ O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
² For behold, your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate you have raised their heads.
³ They lay crafty plans against your people;
they consult together against your treasured ones.
⁴ They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
⁵ For they conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
⁶ the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
⁷ Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
⁸ Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot.
⁹ Do to them as you did to Midian,
as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
¹⁰ who were destroyed at En-dor,
who became dung for the ground.
¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² who said, “Let us take possession of the pastures of God.”
¹³ O my God, make them like whirling dust,
like chaff before the wind.
¹⁴ As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
¹⁵ so may you pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane!
¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Lord.
¹⁷ Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace,
¹⁸ that they may know that you alone,
whose name is the Lord,
are the Most High over all the earth.