Rise up, O LORD, and let Thine enemies be scattered

“Rise up, O LORD, and let Thine enemies be scattered” is the first half of a paired prayer Moses speaks as the Ark of the Covenant sets out. Its counterpart, “Return, O LORD, unto the ten thousands of the families of Israel,” is spoken when the Ark rests, making the brief refrain a verbal frame for Israel’s journey and an appeal for divine protection and return.

Setting and Form

The prayers occur as the Israelites leave the wilderness camp and travel from Mount Sinai. The Ark goes before them for three days to seek a resting place, while the cloud of the LORD remains over the camp by day. Moses’ words accompany both movements: the first calls for the LORD to rise as the Ark advances; the second asks the LORD to return when it comes to rest.

Meaning and Narrative Role

The paired imperatives give the journey a rhythm of departure and encampment. At movement, the prayer asks that the LORD’s enemies scatter and those who hate Him flee; at rest, it invokes the gathering of Israel’s many families. The refrain thus links protection from opposition with the people’s continued life together under divine presence, rather than presenting travel as merely logistical.

The surrounding narrative soon contrasts this confident invocation with trouble in the camp: the LORD’s fire burns at its outskirts after the people murmur, and later the people complain about their food. The prayer’s placement therefore sets an ordered, divinely accompanied journey against the instability and discontent that emerge along the way.