Psalms 82:1-7

1 God standeth in the congregation of God; He judgeth among the gods.

2 How long will ye judge unjustly, And respect the persons of the wicked? [Selah

3 Judge the poor and fatherless: Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.

4 Rescue the poor and needy: Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.

5 They know not, neither do they understand; They walk to and fro in darkness: All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I said, Ye are gods, And all of you sons of the Most High.

7 Nevertheless ye shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes.

Psalms 82:1-7 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.