Psalms 82
Big idea: Eight verses, and it is a scene: God standing up in a divine council and prosecuting the judges. The charge is not corruption in the abstract but a job description ignored — defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless; rescue the weak and needy. Their failure is described as a structural fact: all the foundations of the earth are shaken. And then the sentence, which Jesus quotes in John 10: you are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High — nevertheless you shall die like men.
Psalm 82 asks God to judge the earth. Psalm 83 names the nations lining up against it.
82:1–8 — Nevertheless you shall die like men
Eight verses set in a divine council, and the scene is a court where the judges are on trial. What they are charged with is not incompetence but partiality — and the job description in verses 3–4 is entirely about people with no leverage. Then the sentence: 'you are gods… NEVERTHELESS you shall die like men'. Jesus quotes verse 6 in John 10, in an argument about who may be called divine.
1 A Psalm by Asaph. God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods. 2 “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” Selah. 3 “Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.” 5 They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6 I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High. 7 Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.” 8 Arise, God, judge the earth, for you inherit all of the nations.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).