The Conspiracy
who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground. Psalm 83:10 · Berean Standard Bible
Those enemies didn't just lose battles—they were completely destroyed, humiliated, and left as nothing more than refuse on the ground.
This isn't pretty language, but it's honest about what total defeat looks like. The Midianites and the Canaanite forces were utterly routed. By bringing up this imagery of complete humiliation, the psalmist is saying, 'Do that level of destruction to these enemies too.' It's the language of someone who understands that sometimes, for God's people to survive, their enemies must be completely defeated.
Asaph, reminding God and Israel of how thoroughly God has defeated enemies before.
The psalms don't shy away from praying for God's justice against those who threaten His people. This isn't about revenge for personal wrongs; it's about the survival of God's covenant people.
The psalmist recalls the utter annihilation of these enemy forces, whose bodies were left unburied—the ultimate ancient Near Eastern humiliation.
The phrase 'became like dung on the ground' (נִשְׁמוּ דֶמֶן־אֲדָמוֹת, nishmù demen adamot) employs scatological language to emphasize absolute degradation. Endor (the archaeological site in the Jezreel Valley) serves as the geographical marker for Sisera's catastrophic defeat in Judges 4:15-16. The refusal of burial—unthinkable in ancient Near Eastern societies where proper internment secured existence in the afterlife—constituted the ultimate curse. The psalmist vividly recalls not sanitized victory but the grotesque devastation of human remains as testimony to divine judgment.
The psalmist describing the grim finality of past judgments.
This echoes the rhetoric of divine judgment throughout the historical books—the language of exposure and nonburial as divine punishment appears in Jeremiah's oracles against Judah and in the theological language of covenant curses in Deuteronomy.
8Even Assyria has joined them, lending strength to the sons of Lot.
9Do to them as You did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon,
10who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.
11Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12who said, “Let us possess for ourselves the pastures of God.”
Read all of Psalm 83 — Every enemy of Israel has allied against them. Do to them as you did to Midian — let them know that You alone are the Most High.
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