Introduction: If I were to translate ‘This food is finger licking good’ into Amharic and being translated back into English would be ‘This food makes me want to eat my fingers’. Often, in Amharic one hears it said, ‘little by little the egg learns to walk’. The first time you hear it you wonder what it means! It means ‘be patient and it will happen!’ I have printed in parallel Ps 82 as translated by the ESV (which I usually use) and the Young’s Literal translation. I have done this because I have difficulty in understanding what the words mean. Not that I don’t get a general sense of the meaning. And I do appreciate the work done by the ESV translators to make the original more understandable. They have crossed a linguistic and cultural barrier which the Literal Translation does not cross, more than is absolutely essential.
1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: God hath stood in the company of God, In the midst God doth judge. – There must be, if we cannot see God, and He is a person, and if we believe in angels, and if we believe in life after death, there must be a world that we cannot see. Ultraviolet and infrared and microscopes give us a simple assurance that there is a world beyond what we can see! But is this first verse talking about the council being in heaven or with the leaders of Israel, leaders of this world’s affairs?
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah 2 Till when do ye judge perversely? And the face of the wicked lift up? Selah. – To whomsoever this question is put, it most certainly is worth thinking about. The question wouldn’t have been phrased like that if bad judgement wasn’t the rule of the day!
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 3 Judge ye the weak and fatherless, The afflicted and the poor declare righteous. – a command not a suggestion!
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” 4 Let the weak and needy escape, From the hand of the wicked deliver them. – another command not a suggestion!
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 5 They knew not, nor do they understand, In darkness they walk habitually, Moved are all the foundations of earth. – Who are ‘they’? Members of the divine council of verse one? Or the people who are to be judged fairly and ruled well? Certainly in 2026 in Australia the legal foundations as laid down in the Bible have been thrown aside.
6 I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.” 6 I–I have said, `Gods ye [are], And sons of the Most High–all of you, 7 But as man ye die, and as one of the heads ye fall, – There is only One God in the sense of the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. There are false gods, idols, philosophies, things that people worship. But idols, philosophies cannot die ‘like men’! So does verse 6 refer to Satan (Lucifer) and his followers who have rebelled against God or the earthly appointed leaders, here called ‘gods’, because they are responsible leaders.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations! 8 Rise, O God, judge the earth, For Thou hast inheritance among all the nations! – A heartfelt plea to God Almighty!
Genesis 18: 25 – Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
Prayer: When I read Your Word, O God, please give me the wisdom I need to understand it aright.