to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
understand
יָבִ֗ינוּya.Vi.nu
H995
to separate mentally (or distinguish) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
walk
יִתְהַלָּ֑כוּyit.ha.La.khu
H1980
to walk (in a great variety of applications · verb, hithpael imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
darkness
בַּחֲשֵׁכָ֥הba.cha.she.Khah
H2825
darkness · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
foundations
מ֥וֹסְדֵיMos.dei
H4144
a foundation · noun, common masculine plural construct
earth
אָֽרֶץ'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
course
יִ֝מּ֗וֹטוּyi.Mo.tu
H4131
to waver · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Proverbs 2:13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not con…
Micah 3:1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
Proverbs 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
John 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that…
Psalms 14:4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 82:1-5
We have here,
I. God's supreme presidency and power in all councils and courts asserted and laid down, as a great truth necessary to be believed both by princes and subjects (Psa 82:1): God stands, as chief director, in the congregation of the mighty, the mighty One, in coetu fortis - in the councils of the prince, the supreme magistrate, and he judges among the gods, the inferior magistrates; both the legislative and the executive power of princes is under his eye and his hand. Observe here, 1. The power and honour of magistrates; they are the mighty. They are so in authority, for the public good (it is a great power that they are entrusted with), and they ought to be so in wisdom and coura…
They knew not,.... 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 wrong…
Psalm 82:5-8
5. They know not, neither do they understand: they walk in darkness, although all the foundations of the earth are moved. 6. I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. 7. But ye shall die as a man; and ye shall fall, O princes: as one of the people. 8. Arise, O God! Judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
5 They know not, neither do they understand. [425] After having reminded princes of their duty, the Psalmist complains that his admonition from their infatuation is ineffectual, and that they refuse to receive wholesome instruction; yea, that although the whole world is shaken to its foundations, they, notwithstanding, continue thoughtless an…
The Church Fathers
They knew not, neither did they understand, they walk in darkness. Who? The bad judges. Those whom I was calling gods, by their own vice have been called bad judges. They knew me not, neither did they understand my judgment: they walk in darkness. Because they forsook the light, therefore they walk in darkness. I said, you are the light of this world: and you turned aside from the light, and became darkness. Because, then, they have done this, let us see what follows.
All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. See what kind of recompense the evil princes have: because of bad judges the foundations of the earth are shaken. This so far we have said first according to the letter, that the shaking of the whole world comes because of bad judges. But let us say it also in another way. All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. I will overturn the bad judges, who have set their foundations on earth, and not in heaven: who ought to have Christ as their foundation, whom the architect Paul laid, but they were unwilling, and set their foundations on earth.
And again that darkness is brought upon men by their evil deeds, we learn from John himself, when he says in his epistle, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth," and again, "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now," and again, "He that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because darkness hath blinded his eyes." Walking in darkness signifies evil conduct, and to hate one's brother, is not that to fall away from that which is properly called knowledge? But he also who is ignorant of divine things walks in darkness, just because of that ignorance; as David says, "They knew not, they understood not, they walk in darkness."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Blindness · 21:14;22:13,14; — 21:14;22:13,14;
Blindness, Spiritual · The wicked are in — The wicked are in
Darkness · The wicked: Walk in — The wicked: Walk in
Foundation · Illustrative of: Magistrates — Illustrative of: Magistrates
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
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.…
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).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 82:5
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
They know not, neither will they understand. A wretched plight for a nation to be in when its justices know no justice, and its judges are devoid of judgment. Neither to know his duty nor to wish to know it is rather the mark of an incorrigible criminal than of a magistrate, yet such a stigma was justly set upon the rulers of Israel. They walk on in darkness. They are as reckless as they are ignorant. Being both ignorant and wicked they yet dare to pursue a path in which knowledge and righteousness are essential: they go on without hesitation, forgetful of the responsib…
