Psalms

About this book

Psalm 82

1 A psalm of Asaph. God stands in the assembly of El; in the midst of the gods he renders judgment.⁠ 2 He says, “How long will you make unjust legal decisions and show favoritism to the wicked?⁠ (Selah)⁠ 3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless. Vindicate the oppressed and suffering.⁠ 4 Rescue the poor and needy. Deliver them from the power of the wicked.⁠ 5 They neither know nor understand. They stumble around in the dark, while all the foundations of the earth crumble. 6 I thought, ‘You are gods; all of you are sons of the Most High.’⁠ 7 Yet you will die like mortals; you will fall like all the other rulers.” 8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth! For you own all the nations.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 82:1 and LXX Psalm 81:1

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

Summary

Psalm 82 describes God in the divine council judging the gods, an ancient Near Eastern tradition of bureaucratic deities that govern creation. The Greek Septuagint uses an unusually literal translation that preserves the original structure and language.

Passages

Psalm 82:1

Hebrew Bible

1 A psalm of Asaph. God stands in the assembly of El; in the midst of the gods he renders judgment. 2 He says, “How long will you make unjust legal decisions and show favoritism to the wicked? (Selah) 3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless. Vindicate the oppressed and suffering. 4 Rescue the poor and needy. Deliver them from the power of the wicked. 5 They neither know nor understand. They stumble around in the dark, while all the foundations of the earth crumble.

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

LXX Psalm 81:1

Septuagint

1 A Psalm for Asaph. God stands in the assembly of gods; and in the midst of them will judge gods. 2 How long will you judge unrighteously, and take the faces of sinners? Pause. 3 Judge the orphan and poor: do justice to the low and needy. 4 Rescue the needy, and deliver the poor out of the hand of the sinner. 5 They do not know, nor understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.

100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Psalms

References

“... While it would certainly be the case that some LXX translators and some LXX manuscripts provide evidence of demythologization, there are a number of examples where the exact opposite is the case. The idea that the LXX reflects a concerted agenda to rid the text of divine plurality cannot be sustained. Modern LXX scholarship has recorded a number of manuscripts with very literal renderings for all the main mythologically-charged references to the divine council in the Hebrew Bible. The Göttingen LXX establishes the following readings: [...] Ps 82:1 (LXX, 81:1) συναγωγῇ θεῶν, ἐν μέσῳ δὲ θεοὺς [...] How the position articulated by Marcos can be defended in light of this manuscript evidence is difficult to discern. [...] To press the point concerning the LXX further, the translation and manuscript evidence of Ps 82:1 deserves additional attention. There is no manuscript inconsistency for the LXX reading [...], and R.B. Salters, in his study of the Ps 82:1 and the LXX, notes that this rendering may be in fact reflect [...] rather than [...] of MT. [...] Significantly, LXX takes the opposite route. ...”

Michael S. Heiser, “The Divine Council in Late Canonical and Non-Canonical Second Temple Jewish Literature” (PhD diss., University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2004), 230–231.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Psalms150 psalms

Compare Psalm 82:1 and LXX Psalm 81:1

Summary

Passages

Psalm 82:1

LXX Psalm 81:1

References

Tags

Your feedback

Leave a comment

Glossary

Search the Library