8 Feb 2022

Psalm 82: the consensus of the metrical psalters?

As a follow-up to my previous posts on the identity of the "gods" in Psalm 82, I have consulted a few more metrical psalters. Here are stanzas 1, 7, and 8 of the version in the Sternhold & Hopkins Psalter of 1562:

Among the princes, men of might,
the Lord himself doth stand,
To plead the cause of truth and right
with judges of the land.

But notwithstanding ye shall die
as men, and so decay;
O tyrants, you destroy will I,
and pluck you quite away.

Up, Lord, and let thy strength be known,
and judge the world with might:
For why? all nations are thy own,
to take them as thy right.

Here are stanzas 1 and 7 of the 1696 Tate & Brady Psalter:

God in the great assembly stands,
where his impartial eye
In state surveys the earthly gods,
and does their judgments try.

"But ne'ertheless your unjust deeds
to strict account I'll call;
"You all shall die like common men,
like other tyrants fall."

Here is stanza 1 from the 1640 Bay Psalm Book:

The mighty God doth stand within
th'assemblie of the strong:
and he it is that righteously
doth judge the gods among.

Then we turn to Isaac Watts' free paraphrase of Psalm 82, stanza 1:

Among th'assemblies of the great
A greater Ruler takes his seat;
The God of heav'n, as Judge, surveys
Those gods on earth, and all their ways.

The 1650 Scottish Psalter is somewhat more ambiguous in identifying the "gods":

In gods' assembly God doth stand;
he judgeth gods among.
How long, accepting persons vile,
will ye give judgement wrong?
Defend the poor and fatherless;
to poor oppress'd do right.
The poor and needy ones set free;
rid them from ill men's might.

Finally, here is the first stanza from the Psalter of John Campbell, the 9th Duke of Argyll. Born John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, he married Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise, and served as Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883 under the courtesy title, Marquess of Lorne.

God standeth where assembled are
The men of might, and kings;
And e'en among the gods the Lord
All 'neath his judgment brings.

Although there are many more metrical psalters which I have not consulted, I would not be surprised if many of them concur with the ones above in interpreting the "gods" in Psalm 82 as mighty men, the strong, kings, and princes who have perverted their responsibilities of judging others within their jurisdiction.

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