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PSALM 82

A Psalm of Asaph.

1. god stands in the assembly of god; he judges in the midst of the gods.
2. How long will you judge perversely, and accept the countenances of the wicked? Selah.
3. Judge the poor and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4. Deliver the poor and needy, rescue 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 totter.
6. I have said you are gods; and you are all the sons of the Most High.
7. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8. Arise, O god, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all nations.

Verse 1. god stands in the assembly of god, he judges in the midst of gods. By the assembly of god, and by the gods in the midst of whom jehovah stands, are meant the angels, by whom in the spiritual sense are signified Divine Truths; and since the lord in heaven is Divine Truth, therefore it is said of him that he stands there. AE 639.

The assembly of god signifies heaven; in the midst of gods signifies with all the angels there, thus in the whole heaven; for the angels are called gods from the divine truth which they receive from the lord, for God in the Word signifies the lord as to divine truth, which proceeds from him, and which makes heaven. AE 313.

The angels, consequently the truths of good which are from the lord, are also meant by gods in the following passages, "god stands in the assembly of god, in the midst of the gods he shall judge; I said you are gods, and you are all the sons of the Most High:" that the truths which proceed from the lord are here meant by gods, is manifest from this consideration, that it is first said the assembly of god, and afterwards in the midst of gods. AC 8301.

As to what further concerns the signification of god, it is to be noted, that god in the supreme sense is the divine principle which is above the heavens, but god in the internal sense is the divine principle which is in the heavens: the divine principle which is above the heavens is the divine good, but the divine principle which is in the heavens is the divine truth; for from the divine good proceeds the divine truth, and makes heaven and arranges it; for what is properly called heaven is nothing else than the divine principle there formed, since the angels, who are in heaven, are human forms recipient of the divine principle, and constituting a common form, which is that of man; and whereas the divine truth in the heavens is what is meant by god, it is from this ground that in the original tongue god is called Elohim, in the plural; and also that the angels who are in the heavens, because they are recipients of the divine truth, are called gods, as in David, "Who in heaven shall be compared to jehovah, who shall be likened to jehovah among the sons of god?" Ps 89:6. AC 7268.

Verse 3. Judge the poor and fatherless. See Psalm 10:14, 18. Exposition.

Verse 5. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness; all the foundations of the earth totter. He who does not know what is signified by a foundation, and what by the earth, conceives no otherwise than that the bottoms of the earth are here meant by the foundations of the earth, although he may perceive if he attends, that something else is meant, for what would it be to know, to hear, and understand the foundations of the earth; hence it may be manifest that by the foundations of the earth are signified such things as are of the church; that earth in the Word denotes the church, is very manifest from the passages in the Word where earth is named, and that its foundations are the truths of faith, for these truths of the church are for foundations; that the foundations of the earth do not totter, but the truths of the church to those who do not acknowledge, do not understand, and walk in darkness, is evident. AC 9643.