Chapter 82

God stands in the great assembly and judges among the gods, rebuking those who judge unjustly. He tells them to defend the weak and fatherless and rescue the needy. The psalmist prays that God will judge the earth.

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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary on the Bible (1710)

This psalm is calculated for the meridian of princes’ courts and courts of justice, not in Israel only, but in other nations; yet it was probably penned primarily for the use of the magistrates of Israel, the great Sanhedrim, and their other elders who were in places of power, and perhaps by David’s direction. This psalm is designed to make kings wise, and “to instruct the judges of the earth” (as…

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, David Brown’s Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary (1871)

(vv. 1)

Psa 82:1-8. Before the great Judge, the judges of the earth are rebuked, exhorted, and threatened. 1. congregation--(Compare Ex 12:3; 16:1). of the mighty--that is, of God, of His appointment. the gods--or, “judges” (Ex 21:6; 22:9), God’s representatives.