Ps 82:2–5: unjust judging, the weak, and the shaken foundations

Says 82:2 asks עַד־מָתַי תִּשְׁפְּטוּ־עָוֶל ('ad-matay tishpetu-'avel, "how long will you judge injustice," literal). תִּשְׁפְּטוּ and תִּשְׂאוּ are second masculine plural imperfects, so a group is addressed; BDB glosses עָוֶל "injustice, unrighteousness." וּפְנֵי רְשָׁעִים תִּשְׂאוּ ("and you lift the faces of the wicked," literal) is the idiom the BSB renders "show partiality to the wicked"; Deut 10:17 denies it of God (לֹא־יִשָּׂא פָנִים).

Says 82:3–4 give four plural imperatives: שִׁפְטוּ (Qal), הַצְדִּיקוּ (Hiphil), פַּלְּטוּ (Piel) and הַצִּילוּ (Hiphil), for דַל וְיָתוֹם, עָנִי וָרָשׁ and דַל וְאֶבְיוֹן, מִיַּד רְשָׁעִים ("save them from the hand of the wicked," BSB). OSHB parses רָשׁ as a Qal participle; BDB has the verb "be in want, poor."

Uncertain Who לֹא יָדְעוּ וְלֹא יָבִינוּ ("They do not know or understand," BSB): the verbs turn to the third plural (יָדְעוּ perfect, יָבִינוּ imperfect, יִתְהַלָּכוּ Hithpael). The lean is the judges addressed in 82:2–4, since the plural address resumes in 82:6–7. The main alternative is the weak and needy of 82:3–4, walking in darkness under unjust rule.

Implies יִמּוֹטוּ כָּל־מוֹסְדֵי אָרֶץ ("all the foundations of the earth are shaken," BSB; יִמּוֹטוּ Niphal) pictures the moral and social order giving way under injustice. The main alternative reads a shaking of the created order itself.

See also note.exegetical.Ps.82.2-Ps.82.5.indictment; for סֶלָה see note.textual.Ps.82.1-Ps.82.8.minor-variants.