The indictment: unjust judgment, the weak, and shaken foundations (Psalm 82:2–5)

Says “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah” (82:2, BSB). The Hebrew rebukes a plural “you” for judging עָוֶל and for lifting the faces of the wicked, the partiality idiom denied of God in Deut 10:17. Verses 3–4 command justice for the weak and fatherless, vindication of the afflicted and poor, and rescue from the hand of the wicked: “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.” (82:3, BSB); “Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.” (82:4, BSB).

Uncertain Who “do not know or understand” (82:5, BSB): those addressed in 82:2–4, or the oppressed who walk in darkness. A lean is taken toward the judges, since that address resumes in 82:6–7. The oppressed are the alternative.

Implies “all the foundations of the earth are shaken” (82:5, BSB) pictures the moral and social order giving way under injustice. A physical earthquake is not required. The alternative is a shaking of the created order itself.

Uncertain What סֶלָה means is open. LXX Ps 81:2 has διάψαλμα. The courtroom charge does not identify the אֱלֹהִים of 82:1 and 82:6. No lean is taken on that identity. See the Hebrew note, and the historical note on the charge.