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Psalms 82:1
I heard a voice I did not recognize.
81:6 It said: “I removed the burden from
his shoulder;
his hands were released from holding the
basket.
81:7 In your distress you called out and I
rescued you.
I answered you from a dark thunder-
cloud.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
(Selah)
81:8 I said, ‘Listen, my people!
I will warn you!
O Israel, if only you would obey me!
81:9 There must be no other10 god
among you.
You must not worship a foreign god.

If only Israel would keep my commands!16
81:14 Then I would quickly subdue their
enemies,
and attack17 their adversaries.”
81:15 (May those who hate the Lord18
cower in fear19 before him!
May they be permanently humiliated!)20
81:16 “I would feed Israel the best wheat,21
and would satisfy your appetite22 with
honey from the rocky cliffs.”23
Psalm 8224
A psalm of Asaph.
82:1 God stands in25 the assembly of El;26
16 tn Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”
17 tn Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand

81:10 I am the Lord, your God,
the one who brought you out of the land
of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it!’
81:11 But my people did not obey me;11
Israel did not submit to me.12
81:12 I gave them over to their stubborn
desires;13
they did what seemed right to them.14
81:13 If only my people would obey me!15
 tn Heb “a lip I did not know, I heard.” Here the term “lip”
probably stands for speech or a voice. Apparently the psalm-
ist speaks here and refers to God’s voice, whose speech is
recorded in the following verses.
 tn The words “It said” are not included in the Hebrew
text. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.
 sn I removed the burden. The Lord speaks metaphorical-
ly of how he delivered his people from Egyptian bondage. The
reference to a basket/burden probably alludes to the hard la-
bor of the Israelites in Egypt, where they had to carry loads of
bricks (see Exod 1:14).
 tn Heb “I answered you in the hidden place of thunder.”
This may allude to God’s self-revelation at Mount Sinai, where
he appeared in a dark cloud accompanied by thunder (see
Exod 19:16).
 sn The name Meribah means “strife.” Two separate but
similar incidents at the place called Meribah are recorded in
the Pentateuch (Exod 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13). In both cases
the Israelites complained about lack of water and the Lord
miraculously provided for them.
 tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for
clarification. Verses 8-10 appear to recall what the Lord com-
manded the generation of Israelites that experienced the
events described in v. 7. Note the statement in v. 11, “my peo-
ple did not listen to me.”
 tn Or perhaps “command.”
 tn The Hebrew particle ‫“( ִאם‬if”) and following prefixed
verbal form here express a wish (GKC 321 §109.b). Note that
the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence)
is suppressed.
 tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 have a modal func-
tion, expressing what is obligatory.
10 tn Heb “different”; “illicit.”
11 tn Heb “did not listen to my voice.”
12 tn The Hebrew expression ‫’( ָא ָבה ִלי‬avah liy) means “sub-
mit to me” (see Deut 13:8).
13 tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their
heart.”
14 tn Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed ver-
bal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imper-
fect (“were walking”).
15 tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The He-
brew particle ּ‫( לו‬lu, “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical
or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).
against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see
Isa 1:25; Ezek 38:12; Amos 1:8; Zech 13:7).
18 tn “Those who hate the Lord” are also mentioned in 2 Chr
19:2 and Ps 139:21.
19 tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb ‫ּ ָכ ַח ׁש‬
(kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb
seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see
also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jus-
sive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.
20 tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew
term ‫’( ִע ּ ָתם‬ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time”
of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the Lord.
Some propose an emendation to ‫( ּ ַבע ֲָת ָתם‬ba’atatam) or ‫עֻתם‬ ָ ‫ִּב‬
(bi’utam; “their terror”; i.e., “may their terror last forever”), but
the omission of bet (‫ )ב‬in the present Hebrew text is difficult to
explain, making the proposed emendation unlikely.
tn The verb form at the beginning of the line is jussive, in-
dicating that this is a prayer. The translation assumes that v.
15 is a parenthetical “curse” offered by the psalmist. Having
heard the reference to Israel’s enemies (v. 14), the psalmist
inserts this prayer, reminding the Lord that they are God’s en-
emies as well.
21 tn Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The
Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a
vav (‫ )ו‬consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light
of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to
emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav
as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional
sentence of vv. 13-14. The third masculine singular pronomi-
nal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6.
sn I would feed. After the parenthetical “curse” in v. 15, the
Lord’s speech continues here.
22 tn Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suf-
fix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10.
23 sn The language in this verse, particularly the references
to wheat and honey, is reminiscent of Deut 32:13-14.
24 sn Psalm 82. The psalmist pictures God standing in the
“assembly of El” where he accuses the “gods” of failing to pro-
mote justice on earth. God pronounces sentence upon them,
announcing that they will die like men. Having witnessed the
scene, the psalmist then asks God to establish his just rule
over the earth.
25 tn Or “presides over.”
26 tn The phrase ‫’( עֲדַ ת ֵאל‬adat ’el, “assembly of El”) ap-
pears only here in the OT. (1) Some understand “El” to refer
to God himself. In this case he is pictured presiding over his
own heavenly assembly. (2) Others take ‫ ֵאל‬as a superlative
here (“God stands in the great assembly”), as in Pss 36:6 and
80:10. (3) The present translation assumes this is a refer-
ence to the Canaanite high god El, who presided over the Ca-
naanite divine assembly. (See Isa 14:13, where El’s assembly
is called “the stars of El.”) In the Ugaritic myths the phrase ’dt
’ilm refers to the “assembly of the gods,” who congregate in
King Kirtu’s house, where Baal asks El to bless Kirtu’s house
(see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 91). If the
Canaanite divine assembly is referred to here in Ps 82:1, then
the psalm must be understood as a bold polemic against