Old Testament

Psalms 82

God Arraigns the Earthly Rulers

5 passages

Overview

Standing in the divine assembly as supreme Judge, God rebukes corrupt rulers for their moral blindness and neglect of the poor, pronounces that they will die as mortals despite their god-like dignity, and the psalmist ends with an urgent cry for God to arise and reclaim just governance over all the nations.

Passages

1God Presides Over the Divine Assembly 2–4Defend the Poor: God's Rebuke of Unjust Judges 5The Moral Blindness of the Unjust 6–7The Divine Sentence: Mortality Pronounced on the 'Gods'8Rise, O God: The Cry for Universal Justice

Study Resources

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Psalms 82

¹A Psalm by Asaph. God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.

²“How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” Selah.

³“Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

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

⁵They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High.

⁷Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.”

⁸Arise, God, judge the earth, for you inherit all of the nations.

Psalms 81 Psalms 83