Psalm 82:2-8

2 "How long will you go on judging unfairly, favoring the wicked? (Selah)

3 Give justice to the weak and fatherless! Uphold the rights of the wretched and poor!

4 Rescue the destitute and needy; deliver them from the power of the wicked!"

5 They don't know, they don't understand, they wander about in darkness; meanwhile, all the foundations of the earth are being undermined.

6 "My decree is: 'You are elohim [gods, judges], sons of the Most High all of you.

7 Nevertheless, you will die like mortals; like any prince, you will fall.'"

8 Rise up, Elohim, and judge the earth; for all the nations are yours.

Psalm 82:2-8 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.