Psalm 82:1

Hebrew Bible

1 A psalm of Asaph. God stands in the assembly of El; in the midst of the gods he renders judgment. 2 He says, “How long will you make unjust legal decisions and show favoritism to the wicked? (Selah) 3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless. Vindicate the oppressed and suffering. 4 Rescue the poor and needy. Deliver them from the power of the wicked. 5 They neither know nor understand. They stumble around in the dark, while all the foundations of the earth crumble.

LXX Psalm 81:1

Septuagint

1 God stands in the assembly of gods; and in the midst of them will judge gods. 2 How long will ye judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of sinners? Pause. 3 Judge the orphan and poor: do justice to the low and needy. 4 Rescue the needy, and deliver the poor out of the hand of the sinner. 5 They know not, nor understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.

 Notes and References

"... The LXX (Greek Psalm 81 = Hebrew Psalm 82) is a wooden, interlinear-type translation which duplicates the actual structure of the Hebrew (including the relative positioning of nouns and verbs). The apparent translation principle for this psalm was to be as literal as possible, rather than trying to use Greek idioms. Collectives are made definite, as well as earth in verse 5. The major difference is that in verse 3 the Greek has “orphan and poor” while the Masoretic text has “poor and orphan.” Other differences appear to be based on a misunderstanding of the tense of the Hebrew (compare above). In sum, there are no significant differences between the Greek and the Masoretic text, and the text of the Masoretic is well-preserved since the time of the LXX ..."

Griffin, William Paul Ethics and Psalm 82 (p. 4) Evangel University, 2009

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