Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
Parallel translations
- WEB Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”
- BSB Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.
- NKJV Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked.
- NASB Rescue the weak and needy; Save them from the hand of the wicked.
- NLT Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Rulers are to rescue the weak and needy from the grip of the wicked. Justice means active deliverance, not mere words.
Overview
God commands not just fair verdicts but concrete rescue of the oppressed from their oppressors. True justice rolls up its sleeves to deliver the helpless. This anticipates the saving work of God in Christ, who delivers the needy from the power of evil and will finally set all things right.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 24:11–12If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
- Job 5:15–16But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
- Job 29:12Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
- Ps 140:12I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.
- Ps 72:12–14For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
- Job 29:16–17I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
- Neh 5:1–13And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 82:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.