Psalm

God Commands Justice

A psalm of Asaph.[a]

82 
God stands in the divine assembly;[b]

he administers judgment in the midst of the gods.[c]

“How long will you judge unjustly

and show favoritism to the wicked?[d] Selah

Judge on behalf of the helpless and the orphan;

provide justice to the afflicted and the poor.

Rescue the helpless and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

They do not know or consider.[e]

They go about in the darkness,

so that all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

I have said,[f] “You are gods,

and sons of the Most High, all of you.

However, you will die like men,[g]

and you will fall like one of the princes.”

Rise up, O God, judge the earth,

because you shall inherit[h] all the nations.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 82:1 The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
  2. Psalm 82:1 Or “assembly of El
  3. Psalm 82:1 Hebrew elohim
  4. Psalm 82:2 Literally “lift up the faces of the wicked”
  5. Psalm 82:5 Or “understand”
  6. Psalm 82:6 Hebrew “I, I have said”
  7. Psalm 82:7 Singular
  8. Psalm 82:8 Or “receive an inheritance”