Psalms 82:2

How long? — What a terrible severity in this Divine Quousque tandem!

“The gods
Grow angry with your patience; this their care,

And must be yours, that guilty men escape not;
As crimes do grow, justice should rouse itself.”

BEN JONSON.

Judge unjustly. — Literally, judge iniquity. For the opposite expression see Psalms 58:1. Leviticus 19:15, which lays down the great principle of strictly fair and unbribable justice is evidently in the poet’s mind, as is shown by the use of the next clause.

Accept the persons. — Literally, lift up the faces. An expression arising from the Eastern custom of prostration before a king or judge. The accepted suitor is commanded to “lift up his face,” i.e., to arise. (Comp. Proverbs 18:5, and Jehoshaphat’s address to the judges, 2 Chronicles 19:7.) This fine sense of the majesty of incorruptible justice attended Israel throughout its history. (See Sir. 7:6.)