Bible Strands
Psalms 82:4
Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses a judicial assembly, issuing a command to intervene before the surrounding verses describe that same assembly’s ignorance and instability.
The words — The Hebrew פַּלְּטוּ־ (pa.le.tu-) and הַצִּֽילוּ (ha.Tzi.lu) both command deliverance or rescue, establishing the verse as a direct order rather than a suggestion.
The thread — This directive to extract the vulnerable from imminent danger runs through Proverbs 24:11, Job 5:15, and Job 29:12.
Why it lands — It demands active intervention to protect the economically and socially weak from those who hold power over them.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 24:11 Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter.
- Job 5:15 He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth and from the clutches of the powerful.
- Job 29:12 because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
- Psalms 72:12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
- Psalms 140:12 I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.
- Job 29:16 I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger.
- Nehemiah 5:1 About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.