Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Parallel translations
- WEB Arise, God, judge the earth, for you inherit all of the nations.
- BSB Arise, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are Your inheritance.
- NKJV Arise, O God, judge the earth; For You shall inherit all nations.
- NASB Arise, God, judge the earth! For You possess all the nations.
- NLT Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you.
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
The psalmist calls on God to arise and judge the earth, for all nations are His inheritance. The cry looks to God as the only true and final Judge.
Overview
Since human judges have failed, the psalm ends pleading for God Himself to take up the judgment of the whole earth. All nations belong to Him by right, so He alone can establish true justice. This longing is answered in Christ, to whom all judgment has been given and who will one day rule the nations in righteousness (cf. John 5:22; Rev. 11:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rev 11:15And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
- Ps 2:8Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
- Ps 96:13Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
- Ps 22:28For the kingdom is the LORD’s: and he is the governor among the nations.
- Ps 102:13Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
- Ps 12:5For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
- Ps 44:26Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.
- Zeph 3:8Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
- Mic 7:7Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
- Mic 7:2The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
- Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
- Ps 7:6Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
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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 82:8 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
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