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Psalms 82:8

in Psalms 82

Arise, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are Your inheritance.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Arise, O God, judge the earth; For thou shalt inherit all the nations.

KJV

Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

This verse in Psalms 82

Commentary

10 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Homily 14, on Psalm 81 · Written before 420.

Up to this point God has spoken to men, and again the prophet speaks. Arise, O God, judge the earth. Arise, because our boat is battered by the waves. Arise, O God, judge the earth: since the bad judges do not judge, but overturn your law, and tear your flocks. Do you arise, who are the true judge. Because, then, the bad judges have died like Adam, and have fallen like one of the princes: therefore do you arise, do you judge, do you save your creature.

This site's exposition

Arise, O God, judge the earth

The psalm ends in a prayer for God to judge the earth Himself. The ground of the prayer is ownership: all the nations belong to Him as His inheritance. The case goes past them to God.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Gregory of Nazianzus

ON THE GREAT ATHANASIUS, ORATION 21:17 · Written before 390.

proposed

Often were the righteous given into the hands of the wicked, not that the latter might be honored but that the former might be tested; and though the wicked come, as it is written, to an awful death, nevertheless for the present the godly are a laughing stock, while the goodness of God and the great treasuries of what is in store for each of them hereafter are concealed. Then indeed word and deed and thought will be weighed in the just balances of God, as he arises to judge the earth, gathering together counsel and works and revealing what he had kept sealed up. Of this let the words and sufferings of Job convince you, who was a truthful, blameless, just, God-fearing man, with all those other qualities that are testified of him, and yet he was struck with such a succession of remarkable visitations, at the hands of him who begged for power over him, that, although many have often suffered in the whole course of time, and some have, as is probable, been grievously afflicted, yet none can be compared with him in misfortunes.

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

Exposition on Psalm 82 · Written before 430.

proposed

And therefore that this vice may be cured, in the person of the Prophet himself it is said, "Arise, O God, and judge the earth" [Psalm 82:8]; for the earth swelled high when it crucified You: rise from the dead, and judge the earth. "For You shall destroy among all nations." What, but the earth? That is, destroying those who savour of earthly things, or destroying the feeling itself of earthly lust and pride in believers; or separating those who do not believe, as earth to be trodden under foot and to perish. Thus by His members, whose conversation is in heaven, He judges the earth, and destroys it among all nations. But I must not omit to remark, that some copies have, "for You shall inherit among all nations." This too may be understood agreeably to the sense, nor does anything prevent both meanings existing at once. His inheritance takes place by love, which in that He cultivates by His commands and gracious mercy, He destroys earthly desires.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

To the kingdom of the Messiah. It is a prayer for the hastening of that, that Christ would come, who is to judge the earth, and that promise is pleaded, that God shall give him the heathen for his inheritance.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid 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 are out of course.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

Arise, O God,....
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)

Arise, O God, and judge the earth. Come thou Judge of all mankind, put the bad judges to thy bar and end their corruption and baseness. Here is the world's true hope of rescue from the fangs of tyranny. For thou shalt inherit all nations. The time will come when all races of men shall own their God, and accept him as their king. There is one who is "King by right divine, "and he is even now on his way. The last days shall see him enthroned, and all unrighteous potentates broken like potter's vessels by his potent sceptre.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Arise, O God, judge the earth - Justice is perverted in the land: take the scepter, and rule thyself. For thou shalt inherit all nations - Does not this last verse contain a prophecy of our Lord, the calling of the Gentiles, and the prevalence of Christianity over the earth? Thus several of the fathers have understood the passage. It is only by the universal spread of Christianity over the world, that the reign of righteousness and justice is to be established: and of whom can it be said that he shall inherit all nations, but of Jesus Christ?
Arise, O God, judge the earth - That is, Since there is such a failure in the administration of justice by those to whom it pertains, and who are appointed to do it in thy stead, do thou, O God, come forth thyself, and see that justice is executed among people. Do thou take the matter into thine own hands, and see that impartial justice is done everywhere among people. It pertains to thee as the great Proprietor of the earth to exercise justice; and we have nowhere else to look when men fail to do their duty. For thou shalt inherit all nations - Or rather, All nations belong to thee as thine inheritance; that is, as thine own. The word “inherit” is used here, as it often is, merely to denote possession or proprietorship, without reference to the question how the possession is obtained. The word strictly refers to what has been received from parents, or what people are heirs to; and, in this sense, it is commonly applied to the land of Palestine, either as what was derived by the Jewish people from their ancestors the patriarchs, or as what they had received from God as a Father. Exo 32:13; Deu 1:38; Deu 12:10. It is here used simply in the sense of possessing it. That is, the whole earth belonged to God, and the administration of its affairs pertained to him. As those had failed who had been appointed under him to the office of judges - as they had not been faithful to their trust - as no confidence could be reposed in them, - the psalmist calls upon God to interfere, either by appointing other magistrates; or by leading those who were in office to just views of their duty; or by his own direct judgments, punishing the wicked, and rewarding the righteous, by the interpositions of his providence. […]

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • קוּמָ֣הarise !

    kumahH6965 →628 times

  • אֱ֭לֹהִיםO God

    ʾelohimH430 →2601 times

  • שָׁפְטָ֣הjudge !

    shafetahH8199 →202 times

  • הָאָ֑רֶץthe earth

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • אַתָּ֥הyou

    ʾatahH859 →1094 times

  • תִ֝נְחַ֗לyou have an inheritance

    tinchalH5157 →59 times

  • בְּכָל־among all

    bekholH3605 →5413 times

  • הַגּוֹיִֽם׃the nations

    hagoyimH1471 →561 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Revelation 11:15

    Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign…

    it leads to

    • Daniel 7:14

      And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Zechariah 14:9

      On that day the LORD will become King over all the earth—the LORD alone, and His name alone.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Revelation 12:10

      And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our…

    • Daniel 7:27

      Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all…

  • Through

    Psalms 102:13

    You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor— the appointed time has come.

    it leads to

    • Galatians 4:4

      But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

    • Isaiah 60:1

      Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

    • Isaiah 40:2

      “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her…

    • Psalms 44:26

      Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.

Where this verse is studied

About Psalms

A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie. Albert Bierstadt, 1866. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie. Albert Bierstadt, 1866. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Gregory of Nazianzus, ON THE GREAT ATHANASIUS, ORATION 21:17; Jerome, Homily 14, on Psalm 81; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.