Psalms 82:4
in Psalms 82Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Rescue the poor and needy: Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
KJV
Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
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This verse in Psalms 82
Commentary
11 notes on this verseDeliver the poor and needy,.... From his adversary and oppressor, who is mightier than he, and draws him to the judgment seat; when it is not in his power to defend himself against him, and get out of his hands, unless a righteous judge will show a regard to him and his cause; and sometimes even an unjust judge, through importunity, will do this, as everyone ought, and every righteous one will: rid them out of the hand of the wicked; this was what the poor widow importuned the unjust judge for, and obtained, Luk 18:3.
This site's exposition
Defend the cause of the weak
on Psalms 82:3-4
Four commands fill these two verses, and each names who is owed the court's protection: the weak, the fatherless, the afflicted, the oppressed, the needy. Rescue is the verb, and the hand it rescues from belongs to the wicked. Right judgment is their defense.
This site's exposition
Rescue the weak and needy
Albert Barnes answered an objection here. Rescuing the needy, he wrote, is simple justice, and it stands against the partiality charged in verse 2. Matthew Henry noted that such clients bring a judge no fee and no gain.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"How long will you judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of the ungodly" [Psalm 82:2]; as in another place, "How long are you heavy in heart?" Until He shall come who is the light of the heart? I have given a law, you have resisted stubbornly: I sent Prophets, you treated them unjustly, or slew them, or connived at those who did so. But if they are not worthy to be even spoken to, who slew the servants of God that were sent to them, you who were silent when these things were doing, that is, you who would imitate as if they were innocent those who then were silent, "how long will you judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of the ungodly?" If the Heir comes even now, is He to be slain? Was He not willing for your sake to become as it were a child under guardians? Did not He for your sake hunger and thirst like one in need? Did He not cry to you, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart"? [Matthew 11:29] Did He not "become poor, when He was rich, that by His poverty we might be made rich"? [2 Corinthians 8:9] "Give sentence," therefore, "for the fatherless and the poor man, justify the humble and needy" [Psalm 82:3]. Not them who for their own sake are rich and proud, but Him who for your sake was humble and poor, believe ye to be righteous: proclaim Him righteous. But they will envy Him, and will not at all spare Him, saying, "This is the Heir, come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours." "Deliver," then, "the poor man, and save the needy from the hands of the ungodly" [Psalm 82:4]. […]
And you accept the persons of sinners: judge for the needy and the orphan, do justice to the lowly and the poor: rescue the poor and the needy, and the rest. When a case comes to you, you do not consider the cause, you do not consider the judgment, but the persons of those who have the cases. For instance, if a poor man comes having a just case, and a rich man comes having a bad case: you look at the persons, not the case. This so far according to one interpretation.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
What the sin is they are here charged with; they judge unjustly, contrary to the rules of equity and the dictates of their consciences, giving judgment against those who have right on their side, out of malice and ill-will, or for those who have an unrighteous cause, out of favour and partial affection.
): Rid them out of the hand of the wicked. Avenge them of their adversary, Luke xviii. These are clients whom there is nothing to be got by, no pay for serving them, no interest by obliging them; yet these are those whom judges and magistrates must concern themselves for, whose comfort they must consult and whose cause they must espouse.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
They are to be the protectors of those who lie exposed to injury and the patrons of those who want advice and assistance: Defend the poor, who have no money wherewith to make friends or fee counsel, and the fatherless, who, while they are young and unable to help themselves, have lost those who would have been the guides of their youth.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. Break the nets of the man catchers, the legal toils, the bonds, the securities, with which cunning men capture and continue to hold in bondage the poor and the embarrassed. It is a brave thing when a judge can liberate a victim like a fly from the spider's web, and a horrible case when magistrate and plunderer are in league. Law has too often been an instrument for vengeance in the hand of unscrupulous men, an instrument as deadly as poison or the dagger.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Deliver the poor and needy - That is, Deliver them from the power and the arts of those who would oppress and wrong them. This would not be showing them partiality; it would be simply doing them justice. Rid them out of the hand of the wicked - Deliver, or Rescue them from their hands; that is, from their attempts to oppress and wrong them.
Modern Voices1 voice
A commentator
Michael S. Heiser"The Plural Elohim of Psalm 82: Gods or Men?" (drmsh.com) (2010)
proposed
Making them human is the easiest path to removing the problem. But is this correct?
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
justify If he [the poor man] is right in his cause, do not reverse the verdict to condemn him in order to favor the wicked.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פַּלְּטוּ־ | paletu- | deliver | H6403 → | 26 times |
| דַ֥ל | dal | [the] poor | H1800 → | 47 times |
| וְאֶבְי֑וֹן | veevyon | and [the] needy | H34 → | 61 times |
| מִיַּ֖ד | miyad | from [the] hand of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| רְשָׁעִ֣ים | reshaim | wicked [people] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| הַצִּֽילוּ׃ | hatzilu | rescue [them] | H5337 → | 212 times |
פַּלְּטוּ־deliver
paletu-H6403 →26 times
דַ֥ל[the] poor
dalH1800 →47 times
וְאֶבְי֑וֹןand [the] needy
veevyonH34 →61 times
מִיַּ֖דfrom [the] hand of
miyadH3027 →1618 times
רְשָׁעִ֣יםwicked [people]
reshaimH7563 →263 times
הַצִּֽילוּ׃rescue [them]
hatziluH5337 →212 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 140:12I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.
it leads to
- Psalms 9:4
For You have upheld my just cause; You sit on Your throne judging righteously.
- 1 Kings 8:49
then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause.
- 1 Kings 8:45
then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.
- Proverbs 23:10–11
Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
- Jeremiah 22:16
He took up the cause of the poor and needy, and so it went well with him. Is this not what it means to know Me?” declares the LORD.
- Psalms 9:4
Through
Job 29:12because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
it leads to
- Psalms 72:12
For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
- Proverbs 21:13
Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer.
- Exodus 22:22–24
You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.
- Psalms 72:12
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 82; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jerome, Homily 14, on Psalm 81; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Michael S. Heiser, "The Plural Elohim of Psalm 82: Gods or Men?" (drmsh.com).