Psalms 82:2-7

2 How long * will you 1judge unjustly And 2show partiality * to the wicked? Selah.
3 3Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
4 4Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They 5do not know nor do they understand; They 6walk about in darkness; All the 7foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I 8said, "You are gods, And all of you are 9sons of the Most High.
7 "Nevertheless 10you will die like men And fall like any 11one of the princes."

Psalms 82:2-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 82

\\<>\\. This psalm was written for the use of persons in power, for the instruction of kings and princes, judges and civil magistrates; according to Kimchi, it was written about the times of Jehoshaphat, who appointed new judges throughout the land; those that were before having been very corrupt, to whom he gave a charge agreeably to the purport of this psalm, 2Ch 19:5-7, but it seems rather to be written by Asaph, in the times of David, under a spirit of prophecy, and has respect to the times of Christ, when there was a great corruption among the judges and rulers of the Jews, both civil and ecclesiastic. The Syriac version calls it, "a reproof of the ungodly Jews"; our Lord cites a passage out of it in vindication of himself from their charge of blasphemy, Joh 10:34-36.

Cross References 11

  • 1. Psalms 58:1
  • 2. Deuteronomy 1:17; Proverbs 18:5
  • 3. Deuteronomy 24:17; Psalms 10:18; Isaiah 11:4; Jeremiah 22:16
  • 4. Job 29:12
  • 5. Psalms 14:4; Jeremiah 4:22; Micah 3:1
  • 6. Proverbs 2:13; Isaiah 59:9; Jeremiah 23:12
  • 7. Psalms 11:3
  • 8. Psalms 82:1; John 10:34
  • 9. Psalms 89:26
  • 10. Job 21:32; Psalms 49:12; Ezekiel 31:14
  • 11. Psalms 83:11

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. "Selah" may mean: "Pause, Crescendo" or "Musical interlude"
  • [b]. Lit "I, on my part"
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