Saturday, December 8, 2012

God help us

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Psalm 83 today for the weekly meme PsalmChallenge.
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1. A song. A psalm. Of Asaph.

2. O God, do not be silent; do not be mute; do not be quiet, O Deity!
3. For Your enemies rage; those who hate You rear their heads.
4. Against Your people they plot craftily, conspire against Your treasured ones.
5. They say, “Come let us wipe them out as a nation; Israel’s name will be remembered no more.”
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    (photo credit: AP/Hasan Sarbakhshian,
      in The Times of Israel


6. Indeed they have conspired as one, making an alliance against You—  

7. the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,
8. Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.
9. Assyria too joins with them, serving as an arm for the sons of Lot.       Selah.

10. Treat them as You did Midian, with Sisera, with Jabin, at the brook Kishon—
11. they were destroyed at En-dor; they became fertilizing refuse for the ground.
12. Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
13. those who said, “Let us take as our possession the pasturelands of God.”
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14. O my God, make them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind.
15. As a fire burns a forest, and as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
16. so pursue them with Your tempest, terrify them with Your windstorm.
17. Fill their faces with shame, so that they seek Your name, O LORD.   
18. May they be abashed and terrified forever, may they be disgraced and doomed.
19. May they know that it is You whose name is the LORD, You are exclusively supreme over all the earth.
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Translation by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.  See also his notes
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A map of  Israel and the surrounding countries: see Atlapedia.
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10 comments:

  1. perfect illustration. Maybe more people will make the connection, Dina.




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  2. Let's hope that some kind of sense and humanity wins out!

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  3. I'd like to wish you and all of your dear ones a happy and peaceful Hanukkah season.

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  4. I do not know what to write except that the photo fits well..

    Wish you a blessed and peaceful Sunday and Hanukkah

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  5. A rather difficult Psalm indeed. And once again the amazing fitting even centuries after they were written.

    Yes, a moving image.

    Thank you very much for your kind participation. Please have a good start into the new week and the Hanukkah celebrations.

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  6. Every time I read this psalm I'm struck at the amazing immediacy of these words written thousands of years ago!

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  7. This psalm illustrates for me that truly "there is nothing new under the sun." of course, that thought too came from the Bible!
    I wish you a peaceful Hanukkah.

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  8. Hope we all live in peace. God help all of us.

    Dina, these verses of Psalm remind me of similar verses in Quran which I do not honestly like. I do not believe that there is a connection between what it has happened or been stated thousands years ago, either in Psalm or Quran, and what we see today. Once a Persian king was a Messiah and today Iran has a regime wants to wipe Israel off the map. So I wonder which one is the actual Iran/Persia that bible points to? I think, it's not about being from a specific geography, being Iran, Syria, etc, but it's more about evil individuals. Once an evil person may come out of Germany, a hundred years after, another person may come out of Iran. Who knows who and where will be the next evil person? I ask myself whether the next Iranian regime or president can be the Messiah again?

    As an Iranian, I would like to express my love and care to you and all the Jewish people who live in Israel. It think this should be the true connection to be made: a connection between people regardless of what has happened or stated thousands years ago.

    Wish you a happy and peaceful life wherever you are.

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