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Psalms 82

A short, startling courtroom scene: God stands in the divine assembly and puts the "gods" — the rulers and powers — on trial (v.1). The charge is judging unjustly and favoring the wicked. The verdict is the heart of it: "You are gods... nevertheless you shall die like men" (vv.6-7). Watch how the eight verses move from accusation to sentence to a closing plea for God himself to take up the judging of the earth.

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Psalms 82 (WEB)
  1. 1

    God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.

  2. 2

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

  3. 3

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

  4. 4

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

  5. 5

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

  6. 6

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

  7. 7

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

  8. 8

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

The duty they abandoned

The standard is concrete: defend the weak and fatherless, maintain the rights of the poor, rescue the needy from the wicked (vv.3-4). Justice here means protecting those without power, not abstract fairness.

Their failure shakes creation: "the foundations of the earth are shaken" (v.5). The final cry — "Arise, God, judge the earth" (v.8) — asks the true Judge to do what the corrupt ones would not.

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