There is considerable uncertainty over the form and meaning of the Hebrew word translated you gods. The Masoretic text has ʾelem (as in the Hebrew title of Psa 56), which cannot be identified with certainty. There are several solutions: (1) Some (following Aquila) change the vowels to ʾilem “silent, silently” (see Bible de Jérusalem, and New Jerusalem Bible footnote); so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “When you speak, justice is silent.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Masoretic text, “silence” (“B” decision) and interprets the text to mean “Do you really speak in order to conceal by silence the righteousness?” (2) Some (following the Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome) change the vowels to ʾulam “but, instead,” a strong adversative (Briggs); this results in something like “Do you, then, indeed decree righteously?” (3) Some read ʾelim, which may be either the plural of ʾelah “terebinth” (a sacred tree; see Hebrew title of Psa 56), or (4) the plural of ʾel “god”; so Weiser, Anderson, Toombs, Oesterley, Taylor, Bible de Jérusalem, Revised Standard Version, An American Translation, Good News Translation footnote; New American Bible “like gods.” New Jerusalem Bible has “Divine as you are” in the text but in footnote says the word is here applied to judges and rulers; Bible en français courant has “heavenly powers.” (5) Some take ʾelim in the sense of “powerful, mighty men,” human, not divine: Good News Translation, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Zürcher Bibel, Revised Standard Version footnote. (6) Dahood takes ʾelim to mean “rams,” here understood to refer to “leaders.” (7) King James Version “congregation” was derived from a twelfth-century A.D. Jewish teacher, Rabbi David Kimchi, who took the word to be from an Aramaic root meaning “to bind.” The choice seems to be between (4) and (5); perhaps (5) is better, with (4) as an alternative in a footnote.

The speaker in verses 1-2 is usually taken to be the psalmist; but some take it to be God (see Toombs), addressing the gods in the heavenly council (see 82.1-7).

For comments on the sons of men, see 11.4. Instead of being, as they should be, just judges of people, they are guilty of wrongs and violence; the latter could be taken in a legal sense as injustice, lawlessness, which the rulers (or judges) perpetuate through a corrupt administration of justice. In some languages, particularly in Africa, the Good News Translation expression “give a just decision” is said idiomatically as “to cut the words straight.” For languages which require a reply to rhetorical questions, Good News Translation provides a model.

If gods and not “rulers” is used in verse 1, then at the end of verse 2 it should be “the earth” (see Revised Standard Version) and not “the land” (Good News Translation), that is, the land of Israel. In many languages the expression “in the land” will mean little more than in the ground, or in the country. In these languages it may be necessary to make it clear that the “land” refers to the earth generally, or else to the nation Israel.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .