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Psalm 82:4-6
New English Translation
Psalm 82:4-6
New English Translation
4 Rescue the poor and needy.
Deliver them from the power[a] of the wicked.
5 They[b] neither know nor understand.
They stumble around[c] in the dark,
while all the foundations of the earth crumble.[d]
6 I thought,[e] ‘You are gods;
all of you are sons of the Most High.’[f]
Footnotes
- Psalm 82:4 tn Heb “hand.”
- Psalm 82:5 sn Having addressed the defendants, God now speaks to those who are observing the trial, referring to the gods in the third person.
- Psalm 82:5 tn Heb “walk.” The Hitpael stem indicates iterative action, picturing these ignorant “judges” as stumbling around in the darkness.
- Psalm 82:5 sn These gods, though responsible for justice, neglect their duty. Their self-imposed ignorance (which the psalmist compares to stumbling around in the dark) results in widespread injustice, which threatens the social order of the world (the meaning of the phrase all the foundations of the earth crumble).
- Psalm 82:6 tn Heb “said.”
- Psalm 82:6 sn Normally in the OT the title Most High belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El (see v. 1, as well as Isa 14:13).
New English Translation (NET)
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