TRV
Translation
Complete Jewish Bible
Give justice to the weak and fatherless! Uphold the rights of the wretched and poor!
Berean Standard Bible
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
American Standard Version
Judge the poor and fatherless: Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
World English Bible Messianic
“Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Doe right to the poore and fatherlesse: doe iustice to the poore and needie.
Young's Literal Translation
Judge ye the weak and fatherless, The afflicted and the poor declare righteous.
In the KJVVerse 15,237 of 31,102
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Commentary on Psalms 82 verses 1–5
1 ¶ A Psalm of Asaph. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
We have here,
I. God's supreme presidency and power in all councils and courts asserted and laid down, as a great truth necessary to be believed both by princes and subjects (Psa 82:1): God stands, as chief director, in the congregation of the mighty, the mighty One, in coetu fortis - in the councils of the prince, the supreme magistrate, and he judges among the gods, the inferior magistrates; both the legislative and the executive power of princes is under his eye and his hand. Observe here, 1. The power and honour of magistrates; they are the mighty. They are so in authority, for the public good (it is a great power that they are entrusted with), and they ought to be so in wisdom and courage. They are, in the Hebrew dialect, called gods; the same word is used for these subordinate governors that is used for the sovereign ruler of the world. They are elohim. Angels are so called both because they are great in power and might and because God is pleased to make use of their service in the government of this lower world; and magistrates in an inferior capacity are likewise the ministers of his providence in general, for the keeping up of order and peace in human societies, and particularly of his justice and goodness in punishing evil-doers and protecting those that do well. Good magistrates, who answer the ends of magistracy, are as God; some of his honour is put upon them; they are his viceregents, and great blessings to any people. A divine sentence is in the lips of the king, Pro 16:10. But, as roaring lions and ranging bears, so are wicked rulers over the poor people, Pro 28:15. 2. A good form and constitution of government intimated, and that is a mixed monarchy like ours; here is the might one, the sovereign, and here is his congregation, his privy-council, his parliament, his bench of judges, who are called the gods. 3. God's incontestable sovereignty maintained in and over all the congregations of the mighty. God stands, he judges among them; they have their power from him and are accountable to him. By him kings reign. He is present at all their debates, and inspects all they say and do, and what is said and done amiss will be called over again, and they reckoned with for their mal-administrations. God has their hearts in his hands, and their tongues too, and he directs them which way soever he will, Pro 21:1. So that he has a negative voice in all their resolves, and his counsels shall stand, whatever devices are in men's hearts. He makes what use he pleases of them, and serves his own purposes and designs by them; though their hearts little think so, Isa 10:7. Let magistrates consider this and be awed by it; God is with them in the judgment, Ch2 19:6; Deu 1:17. Let subjects consider this and be comforted with it; for good princes and good judges, who mean well, are under a divine direction, and bad ones, who mean ever so ill, are under a divine restraint.
II. A charge given to all magistrates to do good with their power, as they will answer it to him by whom they are entrusted with it, Psa 82:3, Psa 82:4. 1. They are to be the protectors of those who lie exposed to injury and the patrons of those who want advice and assistance: Defend the poor, who have no money wherewith to make friends or fee counsel, and the fatherless, who, while they are young and unable to help themselves, have lost those who would have been the guides of their youth. Magistrates, as they must be fathers to their country in general, so particularly to those in it who are fatherless. Are they called gods? Herein they must be followers of him, they must be fathers of the fatherless. Job was so, Job 29:12. 2. They are to administer justice impartially, and do right to the afflicted and needy, who, being weak and helpless, have often wrongs done them; and will be in danger of losing all if magistrates do not, ex officio - officially, interpose for their relief. If a poor man has an honest cause, his poverty must be no prejudice to his cause, how great and powerful soever those are that contend with him. 3. They are to rescue those who have already fallen into the hands of oppressors and deliver them. (Psa 82:4): Rid them out of the hand of the wicked. Avenge them of their adversary, Luk 18:3. These are clients whom there is nothing to be got by, no pay for serving them, no interest by obliging them; yet these are those whom judges and magistrates must concern themselves for, whose comfort they must consult and whose cause they must espouse.
III. A charge drawn up against bad magistrates, who neglect their duty and abuse their power, forgetting that God standeth among them, Psa 82:2, Psa 82:5. Observe, 1. What the sin is they are here charged with; they judge unjustly, contrary to the rules of equity and the dictates of their consciences, giving judgment against those who have right on their side, out of malice and ill-will, or for those who have an unrighteous cause, out of favour and partial affection. To do unjustly is bad, but to judge unjustly is much worse, because it is doing wrong under colour of right; against such acts of injustice there is least fence for the injured and by them encouragement is given to the injurious. It was as great an evil as any Solomon saw under the sun when he observed the place of judgment, that iniquity was there, Ecc 3:16; Isa 5:7. They not only accepted the persons of the rich because they were rich, though that is bad enough, but (which is much worse) they accepted the persons of the wicked because they were wicked; they not only countenanced them in their wickedness, but loved them the better for it, and fell in with their interests. Woe unto thee, O land! when thy judges are such as these. 2. What was the cause of this sin. They were told plainly enough that it was their office and duty to protect and deliver the poor; it was many a time given them in charge; yet they judge unjustly, for they know not, neither will they understand. They do not care to hear their duty; they will not take pains to study it; they have no desire to take things right, but are governed by interest, not by reason or justice. A gift in secret blinds their eyes. They know not because they will not understand. None so blind as those that will not see. They have baffled their own consciences, and so they walk on in darkness, not knowing nor caring what they do nor whither they go. Those that walk on in darkness are walking on to everlasting darkness. 3. What were the consequences of this sin: All the foundations of the earth (or of the land) are out of course. When justice is perverted what good can be expected? The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved, as the psalmist speaks in a like case, Psa 75:3. The miscarriages of public persons are public mischiefs.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–5. Public domain.
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Cyril of JerusalemAD 386
Catechetical Lectures, Prologue, 6
Look, I ask you, and see with how great a dignity Jesus favors you. You were called a catechumen, which means one into whom something is drummed from without. You heard of some hope, but you did not know what. You heard mysteries without understanding anything. You heard Scriptures without plumbing their depth. It is not drummed in, any more, but whispered. For the indwelling Spirit is fashioning your mind into mansions for God. When you hear, in the future, Scriptures concerning mysteries, you will understand things you knew nothing of. And do not esteem as if a trifle what you are receiving. Being but a wretched person, you are recipient of a divine title. For listen to Paul, “God is faithful,” or to another text in Scripture, “God is faithful and just.” It was as foreseeing that a divine title would come to be applied to human beings that the psalmist, speaking in the person of God, said, “I have said, you are gods and are all the children of the most High.” But see that when the title is faithful, the purpose is not faithless. You have entered the contest; run your course steadfastly. No other chance like this will come your way. If it was your wedding day ahead of you, would you not make light of all else, in preparing the banquet? When, then, you are going to consecrate your soul to the heavenly Bridegroom, will you not leave your physical concerns to chance, so that you may take a firm hold on the things of the spirit?
Gregory of NazianzusAD 390
ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 4[30].4
He is said to reign in one sense as the almighty King, both of the willing and the unwilling, but in another as producing in us submission and placing us under his kingship as willingly acknowledging his sovereignty. Of his kingdom, considered in the former sense, there shall be no end. But in the second sense, what end will there be? His taking us as his servants, on our entrance into a state of salvation. For what need is there to work submission in us when we have already submitted? After which he arises to judge the earth and to separate the saved from the lost. After that he is to stand as God in the midst of gods, that is, of the saved, distinguishing and deciding of what honor and of what mansion each is worthy.
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 82
"How long will you judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of the ungodly" [Psalm 82:2]; as in another place, "How long are you heavy in heart?" Until He shall come who is the light of the heart? I have given a law, you have resisted stubbornly: I sent Prophets, you treated them unjustly, or slew them, or connived at those who did so. But if they are not worthy to be even spoken to, who slew the servants of God that were sent to them, you who were silent when these things were doing, that is, you who would imitate as if they were innocent those who then were silent, "how long will you judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of the ungodly?" If the Heir comes even now, is He to be slain? Was He not willing for your sake to become as it were a child under guardians? Did not He for your sake hunger and thirst like one in need? Did He not cry to you, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart"? [Matthew 11:29] Did He not "become poor, when He was rich, that by His poverty we might be made rich"? [2 Corinthians 8:9] "Give sentence," therefore, "for the fatherless and the poor man, justify the humble and needy" [Psalm 82:3]. Not them who for their own sake are rich and proud, but Him who for your sake was humble and poor, believe ye to be righteous: proclaim Him righteous. But they will envy Him, and will not at all spare Him, saying, "This is the Heir, come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours." "Deliver," then, "the poor man, and save the needy from the hands of the ungodly" [Psalm 82:4]. This is said that it might be known, that in that nation where Christ was born and put to death, those persons were not guiltless of so great a crime, who being so numerous, that, as the Gospel says, the Jews feared them, and therefore dared not lay hands on Christ, afterwards consented, and permitted Him to be slain by the malicious and envious Jewish rulers: yet if they had so willed, they would still have been feared, so that the hands of the wicked would never have prevailed against Him. For of these it is said elsewhere, "Dumb dogs, they know not how to bark." Of them too is that said, "Lo, how the righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart." He perished as far as lay in them who would have Him to perish; for how could He perish by dying, who in that way rather was seeking again what had perished? If then they are justly blamed and deservedly rebuked, who by their dissembling suffered such a wicked deed to be committed; how must they be blamed, or rather not only blamed, but how severely must they be condemned, who did this of design and malice?
Theodoret of CyrusAD 458
DIALOGUE 1
“I have said you are gods and all of you children of the most High, but you shall die like man.” This he says to them that did not accept the gift of adoption but dishonor the incarnation of the pure generation of the Word of God, deprive humankind of ascent to God and are ungrateful to the Word of God who for their sakes was made flesh. For this cause was the Word made human, that humanity receiving the Word and accepting the adoption should be made God’s children.
Fulgentius of RuspeAD 533
LETTER 12:9
We find the name of God in the holy Scriptures, as many as now come to mind, spoken of in four ways. For God is spoken of according to the truth of [his divine] nature, that the holy Trinity is one, true and unchangeable God, who says, “See now that I, even I, am he; there is no God besides me.” And concerning whom David says, “For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock besides our God?” This is the one and only God who alone is God by nature. From this one true God, certain ones, in order that they might be gods, did not have the name by nature but received it by the gift of grace. Concerning such gods, it was Moses to whom that one true God said, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh.” Of such people are also those to whom it is said, “I said, ‘You are gods, children of the most High, all of you.’ ” Therefore, these gods received that grace to be gods so that they might become the children of God. The Evangelist says that “to those who did accept him, he gave power to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not by natural generation, or by human choice or by a man’s decision, but of God.” Likewise, to them it is said, “I said, ‘You are gods, children of the most High, all of you.’ ”
CassiodorusAD 585
EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 49:1
“The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun until its setting.” The power of the Lord is proclaimed in advance so that no one might believe that his incarnation ought to be deemed as being of moderate import and so that the depravity of all unbelief may be removed. Human beings who receive the grace of the divine majesty for their good conduct are called “gods,” just as he says in another psalm, “I have said, ‘You are gods and children of the Most High.’ ” Therefore, they are called “children,” just as they are called “gods,” because grace, not nature, offers each title. But the God of the gods is the Lord Christ, for he himself (along with the Father and the Holy Spirit) is truly called God of the gods. Nonetheless, the name “God of gods” does not altogether belong to the Divinity, but as we have already said, human language cannot indicate his exalted stature beyond this.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 82:3 stands as a profound divine injunction delivered within a celestial court setting, where God, the ultimate Judge, confronts earthly rulers for their egregious failure to uphold justice. This verse articulates a non-negotiable mandate for those in positions of authority to actively champion and defend the rights and welfare of society's most vulnerable members: the poor, the fatherless, the afflicted, and the needy. It emphatically underscores God's unwavering commitment to righteousness and equity, serving as a foundational declaration of the divine standard by which all human governance is measured, and holding leaders accountable to reflect God's own just character in their stewardship.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 82:3 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey its powerful and urgent message. The most prominent is Parallelism, specifically a form of synonymous or synthetic parallelism, where the second clause ("do justice to the afflicted and needy") reiterates and expands upon the core message of the first ("Defend the poor and fatherless"). This repetition serves to intensify and reinforce the central theme of righteous judgment and active advocacy for the vulnerable, underscoring its paramount importance. The use of the Imperative Mood ("Defend," "do justice") highlights the non-negotiable, authoritative, and urgent nature of God's command, emphasizing the divine authority that undergirds this instruction. Furthermore, the verse employs a form of Merism or Categorization by listing four distinct but closely related groups ("poor," "fatherless," "afflicted," "needy"). While each term carries nuanced meaning, collectively they represent the full spectrum of society's marginalized, disempowered, and suffering, thereby indicating God's comprehensive and compassionate concern for all who are vulnerable and in need of defense and justice.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 82:3 offers a profound revelation of God's character as the ultimate righteous Judge who not only demands but actively champions justice on earth. It unequivocally establishes that the administration of justice, particularly for the vulnerable and disenfranchised, is not merely a human ideal or a societal preference, but a divine imperative and a direct reflection of God's own intrinsic nature. This verse underscores the foundational theological truth that God intimately identifies with the oppressed and holds those in positions of power rigorously accountable for their stewardship. It powerfully challenges any notion that authority or influence is given for self-aggrandizement, instead framing it as a sacred trust to be exercised for the holistic welfare of the entire community, especially its weakest and most defenseless members. This divine concern for justice, mercy, and equity is a consistent, unbroken thread woven throughout the entire tapestry of Scripture, forming a core component of biblical ethics, covenant theology, and the very nature of God's relationship with humanity.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 82:3 serves as a timeless and profoundly challenging mandate to every generation, calling all who possess any form of influence, authority, or privilege—whether in governmental structures, legal systems, corporate environments, community organizations, or even within the sphere of family life—to critically examine how they wield their power. It demands a transformative shift from passive sympathy to active advocacy and courageous intervention on behalf of the marginalized and oppressed. For individuals, this means cultivating a heart deeply attuned to justice, actively seeking out, understanding, and addressing the systemic and personal needs of the poor, the orphaned, the suffering, and the downtrodden within our immediate spheres of influence. For the Church, it is a clarion call to embody the radical compassion of Christ, to be a prophetic voice for the voiceless, and to engage in ministries that not only offer immediate relief but also strive for systemic justice and societal transformation. Ultimately, this verse compels us, as followers of God, to reflect His own righteous and just character in our personal lives, our interpersonal relationships, and in the very structures of our society, ensuring that justice flows like an unceasing river for all people, not merely for the privileged or powerful.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Who are the "gods" mentioned in Psalm 82:1, and how does verse 3 relate to them?
Answer: The "gods" (Hebrew: elohim) in Psalms 82:1 are most widely interpreted by biblical scholars as referring to human rulers, judges, or other powerful figures who have been divinely appointed to administer justice on earth. While the term elohim can certainly refer to divine beings, in this specific poetic context, it functions as a metaphor or a title for those who act as God's representatives or vice-regents in earthly authority. The psalm depicts God presiding over a divine council, where He directly confronts these human "gods" for their profound corruption and their egregious failure to uphold justice. Psalms 82:3 is God's direct, unequivocal command to these very rulers, meticulously outlining the specific duties they have neglected: to defend the poor, the fatherless, the afflicted, and the needy. It serves as a scathing indictment of their abuse of power and a clear, unyielding articulation of the righteous standard by which they are being judged by the ultimate Sovereign.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 82:3 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. While the psalm condemns earthly rulers for their systemic failure to administer justice and care for the vulnerable, Jesus perfectly embodies and flawlessly executes the divine mandate to defend the poor and do justice to the afflicted. His entire earthly ministry was characterized by a radical identification with the marginalized and an unwavering commitment to their welfare: He healed the sick, fed the hungry multitudes, welcomed the outcasts, and consistently championed the cause of those society deemed "needy" or "afflicted." Indeed, He explicitly declared His mission in the synagogue at Nazareth: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18-19). As the righteous King and ultimate Judge, Jesus will, at His glorious return, establish a perfect kingdom where absolute justice prevails, where the oppressed will be fully vindicated, and the wicked will be righteously judged (Matthew 25:31-46). Furthermore, Christ serves eternally as our compassionate Advocate and High Priest, continually interceding for us before the Father, truly defending the poor in spirit and doing justice for those afflicted by the pervasive power of sin (Hebrews 4:14-16). He is the one prophesied to "judge with righteousness" and to "defend the cause of the poor of the people" (Isaiah 11:4), embodying the very heart of God's justice.