King James Bible
"They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course."
God condemns the unjust judges for their willful ignorance and refusal to grasp divine justice. The parallel structure emphasizes both their intellectual failure and their deliberate rejection of wisdom, indicating moral culpability rather than mere incompetence. This metaphor depicts the judges continuing in their corrupt ways without moral or spiritual illumination. In Hebrew thought, darkness represents both evil and the absence of God's guidance, suggesting these leaders operate outside divine truth. The cosmic imagery shows how corrupt leadership destabilizes the entire created order. In ancient Near Eastern thought, justice was foundational to cosmic stability, so when judges pervert justice, the very structures of society and creation become unmoored.