God takes His position in His assembly; He judges in the midst of the gods.
Parallel translations
- WEB A Psalm by Asaph. God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.
- KJV God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
- BSB A Psalm of Asaph. God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods:
- NKJV God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods.
- NLT God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:
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
God stands in the divine assembly and judges among 'the gods.' God Himself holds accountable those entrusted with authority.
Overview
This psalm pictures God presiding over an assembly and rendering judgment on the 'gods,' most commonly understood as human rulers and judges (cf. v. 6-7), though some take them as spiritual powers. Either way, the point is that all authority is subordinate to and answerable to God. He is the supreme Judge over every lesser ruler, a truth fulfilled when Christ judges the living and the dead.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- John 10:35If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken),
- 2 Chr 19:6–7and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you don’t judge for man, but for Yahweh; and he is with you in the judgment.
- Ps 82:6–7I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High.
- Isa 3:13Yahweh stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples.
- Ps 58:11so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”
- Eccl 5:8If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.
- Ps 138:1By David. I will give you thanks with my whole heart. Before the gods, I will sing praises to you.
- Exod 22:28“You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.
- Exod 21:6then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.
- Exod 18:21Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
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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 82:1 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.