11 ‘But my people would not listen to me;
    Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
    to follow their own devices.

13 ‘If my people would only listen to me,
    if Israel would only follow my ways,
14 how quickly I would subdue their enemies
    and turn my hand against their foes!
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
    and their punishment would last for ever.
16 But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
    with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.’

Psalm 82

A psalm of Asaph.

God presides in the great assembly;
    he renders judgment among the ‘gods’:

‘How long will you[a] defend the unjust
    and show partiality to the wicked?[b]
Defend the weak and the fatherless;
    uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

‘The “gods” know nothing, they understand nothing.
    They walk about in darkness;
    all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

‘I said, “You are ‘gods’;
    you are all sons of the Most High.”
But you will die like mere mortals;
    you will fall like every other ruler.’

Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
    for all the nations are your inheritance.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 82:2 The Hebrew is plural.
  2. Psalm 82:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.