Psalm 82:2-4

2 “How long will you^[a] defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?^[b]

3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Psalm 82:2-4 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. Deuteronomy 1:17
• 2. Psalms 58:1-2; Proverbs 18:5
• 3. S Deuteronomy 24:17
• 4. Psalms 140:12; Jeremiah 5:28; Jeremiah 22:16

Footnotes

• [a] The Hebrew is plural.
• [b] The Hebrew has "Selah" (a word of uncertain meaning) here.