Psalm 82

Psalm 82 is the 82nd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 81. In Latin, it is known as "Deus stetit in synagoga deorum". It is one of the 12 Psalms of Asaph. The New King James Version describes it as "a plea for justice"; Alexander Kirkpatrick sees it as "a vision of God as the Judge of judges".

The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. It has been set to music.

Hebrew
The following table shows the Hebrew text of the Psalm with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).

King James Version

 * 1) God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
 * 2) How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
 * 3) Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
 * 4) Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
 * 5) They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
 * 6) I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
 * 7) But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
 * 8) Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

Contextual interpretation
This psalm originates in the context of the ancient Hebrews, and their Ancient Near Eastern environment. Kirkpatrick observes how it "sets forth, in a highly poetical and imaginative form, the responsibility of earthly judges to the Supreme Judge." The final verse of the Psalm, verse 8, has God in the future tense "inheriting the nations", where elsewhere in the psalms, "the Son" inherited the nations in Psalm 2, and the believing community inherits the nations in Psalms 25 and 37.

Judaism

 * Psalm 82 is the psalm of the day in the Shir Shel Yom on Tuesday.
 * It is recited on Hoshana Rabbah.
 * Verse 1 is part of Mishnah Tamid 7:4 and is found in Pirkei Avot Chapter 3, no. 7.

Christianity
Jesus quotes verse 6 in John : "I said, 'You are gods.'" Jesus uses this text to assert that he is not blaspheming when he calls himself the Son of God. The second part of verse 6, "All of you are sons of the Most High", does not appear in the text quoted by John. Quoting Bishop Westcott, Kirkpatrick says of this text: "The fact that it was possible for men so to represent God as to be called gods or divine was a foreshadowing of the Incarnation. 'There lay already in the Law the germ of the truth which Christ announced, the union of God and man.'"

Jesus alludes directly to Psalm 82, where the elohim (gods) receive the word of God in the form of judgment and condemnation. Against his accusers, Jesus was appealing to the precedent already established in the Torah, which referred to God's holy ones, or his divine council, as "gods" (elohim). In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read in the evening of the 16th day of the month.

In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Vesperal Liturgy for Holy Saturday, Psalm 82 (81 in the Septuagint version) represents the point at which the wicked and fallen angels have sentence pronounced against them during the Harrowing of Hell.

Musical settings
Heinrich Schütz set Psalm 82 in a metred version in German, "Singet mit Freuden unserm Gott", SWV 179, as part of the Becker Psalter, first published in 1628.

Norma Wendelburg composed a choral setting in English, "Arise, O God, to Judge the Earth" for mixed choir and optional organ in 1973.