Psalm 82

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ God stands in the assembly [of the representatives] of God; in the midst of the magistrates or judges He gives judgment [as] among the gods.

² How long will you [magistrates or judges] judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

³ Do justice to the weak (poor) and fatherless; maintain the rights of the afflicted and needy.

⁴ Deliver the poor and needy; rescue them out of the hand of the wicked.

⁵ [The magistrates and judges] know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction]; all the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles upon which rests the administration of justice] are shaking.

⁶ I said, You are gods [since you judge on My behalf, as My representatives]; indeed, all of you are children of the Most High.^(A)

⁷ But you shall die as men and fall as one of the princes.

⁸ Arise, O God, judge the earth! For to You belong all the nations.^(B)

⁸ Rush not forth soon to quarrel [before magistrates or elsewhere], lest you know not what to do in the end when your neighbor has put you to shame.^(A)

⁹ Argue your cause with your neighbor himself; discover not and disclose not another’s secret,^(B)

¹⁰ Lest he who hears you revile you and bring shame upon you and your ill repute have no end.