Psalm 82

A Plea for Righteous Judgment

A psalm of Asaph.^(A)

Judah’s Security

12 A pronouncement:

² “Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering^(C) for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.^{(D) 3} On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.^{(E) 4} On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness.^(F) I will keep a watchful eye on^(G) the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. ⁵ Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Armies, their God. ⁶ On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile,^(H) like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem. ⁷ The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem,^(I) so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord, before them.^{(J) 9} On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

¹⁰ “Then I will pour out a spirit^[a](K) of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at^[b] me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.^{(L) 11} On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s^[c](M) house by itself and their women by themselves; ¹³ the family of Levi’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei^[d](N) by itself and their women by themselves; ¹⁴ all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.

God’s People Cleansed

13 “On that day a fountain^(O) will be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity.^{(P) 2} On that day”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“I will remove the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered.^(Q) I will banish the prophets^[e] and the unclean spirit from the land. ³ If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You cannot remain alive because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.’ When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through.^{(R) 4} On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not put on a hairy cloak^(S) in order to deceive. ⁵ He will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I work the land, for a man purchased^[f] me as a servant since my youth.’^{(T) 6} If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds^(U) on your chest?’^[g]—then he will answer, ‘I received the wounds in the house of my friends.’