Psalms 82King James Version
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. Defend the poor and fatherless. How long will ye judge unjustly? Arise, O God, judge the earth.
God presides in the divine council and indicts the gods who have judged unjustly. Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy; deliver the poor from the wicked. But they know not, neither will they understand; they walk in darkness; the foundations of the earth shake. God pronounces sentence: you shall die like men. The psalm closes with an appeal: arise O God, judge the earth.
The divine court condemns those entrusted with justice who failed the poor, whether divine beings or earthly rulers, and the one true God is called to take the judgment of the earth into his own hands.
verse: "Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations." The end of the psalm transfers all authority to the one God after the failure of all others.
Superscription: 'A Psalm of Asaph.' The 'congregation of the mighty' (v1) reflects ancient Near Eastern mythology of divine councils, which Israel's tradition subsumed under YHWH's sovereignty. The psalm belongs to the Asaph prophetic tradition. It closes Book 3's first Asaph cluster (73-83).
God standing in the divine congregation as judge; the gods or divine beings who judged unjustly; the poor, fatherless, afflicted, needy, and weak as those betrayed; the psalmist as petitioner in the final verse.
Psalm 82 is one of the most theologically contested psalms. The 'gods' (elohim) who are condemned have been interpreted as divine beings, angels, Israelite judges, or the gods of the nations. Jesus quotes v6 in John 10:34 ('Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?') to defend his claims. The psalm grounds social justice in the structure of divine authority.
For when injustice feels cosmic and systemic, not just individual. The psalm addresses the structures that permit injustice, not merely the individuals who commit it.
1[A Psalm of Asaph.] God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
2How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
7But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.