Psalm 82

1 God stands in the assembly of gods; and in the midst of them will judge gods.

2 How long will ye judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of sinners? Pause.

3 Judge the orphan and poor: do justice to the low and needy.

4 Rescue the needy, and deliver the poor out of the hand of the sinner.

5 They know not, nor understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.

6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you children of the Most High.

7 But ye die as men, and fall as one of the princes.

8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

Psalm 82 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.