Psalm 83:13

Psalm 83:13, in plain English

Scatter them like tumbleweeds blown by the wind, like chaff that has no weight or substance—completely dispersed and powerless.

Why it's here

Tumbleweed and chaff are images of worthlessness and helplessness. Wind carries them wherever it blows; they have no power to resist. The psalmist is praying that these powerful enemy nations be reduced to nothing, scattered and rendered utterly insignificant.

Who's speaking

Asaph, praying for the complete dispersal and defeat of the coalition.

Where it sits in the story

In God's story, human power and military might can look imposing, but they're fragile. When God moves, what seemed solid can become as light and powerless as chaff.

The scholarly reading

The psalmist prays for divine transformation of the enemies into helpless, dispersed remnants—tumbleweed and chaff blown by wind.

Language and setting

The Hebrew גַּלְגַּל (galgal, 'rolling tumbleweed') and מֹץ (motz, 'chaff') employ imagery familiar to an agrarian society: the worthless residue of harvest, devoid of substance, propelled by external force without agency or destination. These similes progress in humiliation—first plant material, then the discarded portion of grain processing. The shift from active violence (previous verses) to passive dispersal suggests not armies engaged in combat but scattered individuals blown by divine wind, their cohesion destroyed. This represents what scholars call 'rhetorical reversal'—the enemies' unified conspiracy becomes scattered impotence.

Voice

The psalmist employing vivid agricultural metaphors for divine judgment.

Significance

The imagery of chaff scattered by wind echoes throughout prophetic literature—Isaiah 29:5, where God's enemies become 'like chaff before the wind,' and participates in the eschatological vision of God's ability to render His adversaries powerless.

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.”

13Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the wind.

14As fire consumes a forest, as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

15so pursue them with Your tempest, and terrify them with Your storm.

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.