Psalms 82:5

“They knew not, etc.] The Targum adds, to do well. This is to be understood of unjust judges and wicked magistrates, who know not God, and have not the fear of him before their eyes, though he stands in the midst of them, and judges among them; which is the source of their unjust judging and unrighteous proceedings: for because they know not God, nor fear him, therefore they regard not men: nor do such know themselves; they are called gods, and they think they are so, and do not consider they are but men; they are the ministers of God, deputies under him, and are accountable to him: nor do they know their duty before pointed out; it is for them to know judgment, what is right, and what is…”

“They know not, neither will they understand - This is designed still further to characterize the magistrates at the time referred to in the psalm. They not merely judged unjustly, and were not merely partial in the administration of justice Psalms 82:2, but they did not desire to understand their duty, and the true principles on which justice should be administered. They were at no pains to inform themselves, either in regard to those principles, or in regard to the facts in particular cases. All just judgment must be based (a) on a true knowledge of what the law is, or what is right; and (b) on a knowledge of the facts in a particular case. Where there is no such knowledge, of course there…”

“They - The magistrates of whom this psalm treats. Know not - The duty of their place. Nor will - Their ignorance is wilful. Walk on - They persist: it is their constant course. In darkness - In their sinful courses. The foundations - This corruption of the supreme rulers, flows from them to their inferior officers and members. Psalms 82:6”

“82:5 The unjust oppressors cannot bring or restore order. They wander about in darkness, unmoved by circumstances even when the whole world order falls apart around them (cp. 11:3).”

“They: That is, the judges know not. know not: Psa 53:4; Pro 1:29; Mic 3:1; Rom 1:28 walk: Pro 2:13, Pro 4:19; Ecc 2:14; Joh 3:19, Joh 12:35; Jo1 2:11 all the: etc. All the civil institutions of the land totter. Psa 11:3, Psa 75:3; Ecc 3:16; Isa 5:7; Ti2 2:19 out of course: Heb. moved Psalms 82:6”

“What now follows in Psa 82:5 is not a parenthetical assertion of the inefficiency with which the divine correction rebounds from the judges and rulers. In connection with this way of taking Psa 82:5, the manner in which the divine language is continued in Psa 82:6 is harsh and unadjusted. God Himself speaks in Psa 82:5 of the judges, but reluctantly alienated from them; and confident of the futility of all attempts to make them better, He tells them their sentence in Psa 82:6. The verbs in Psa 82:5 are designedly without any object: complaint of the widest compass is made over their want of reason and understanding; and ידעו takes the perfect form in like manner to ἐγνώκασι, noverunt, cf.…”