What does Psalm 82:3 mean?

The Lord commands Israel's judges to provide justice for the weak and the fatherless. They are expected to maintain the rights of the afflicted and destitute. Instead, it seems Israel's rulers were engaged in corruption (Psalm 82:1–2). This contradicts God's intent for human government (Proverbs 31:9; Romans 13:4). In fact, when evil replaces order, it overturns the basis of the entire world (Psalm 11:3; 82:5).

Judges abusing the underprivileged risked incurring severe penalties: "Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow" (Deuteronomy 27:19). In His indictment of Israel's corrupt rulers, the Lord directly charges them with breaching this responsibility (Isaiah 1:23). The New Testament also shows God's compassion for the underprivileged. In Acts 6 He led the congregation of believers to select men to care for Greek widows. In his epistle James declares, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction" (James 1:27).