Psalm 82:1-5

Unjust Judgments Rebuked.

1 God takes His ¹stand in His own congregation; He ²judges in the midst of the ³rulers.

2 How long * will you ⁴judge unjustly And ⁵show partiality * to the wicked? Selah.

3 ⁶Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.

4 ⁷Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.

5 They ⁸do not know nor do they understand; They ⁹walk about in darkness; All the ¹⁰foundations of the earth are shaken.

Psalm 82:1-5 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

• 1. Isaiah 3:13
• 2. 2 Chronicles 19:6; Psalms 58:11
• 3. Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8, 28
• 4. Psalms 58:1
• 5. Deuteronomy 1:17; Proverbs 18:5
• 6. Deuteronomy 24:17; Psalms 10:18; Isaiah 11:4; Jeremiah 22:16
• 7. Job 29:12
• 8. Psalms 14:4; Jeremiah 4:22; Micah 3:1
• 9. Proverbs 2:13; Isaiah 59:9; Jeremiah 23:12
• 10. Psalms 11:3

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "the congregation of God"
• [b] Lit "gods"
• [c] "Selah" may mean: "Pause, Crescendo" or "Musical interlude"