Psalms 82:6

82:6 I thought, ¹  ‘You are gods;

all of you are sons of the Most High.’ ² 

Psalms 96:4

96:4 For the Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise;

he is more awesome than all gods. ³ 

Psalms 97:7

97:7 All who worship idols are ashamed,

those who boast about worthless idols.

All the gods bow down before him. ⁴ 

Psalms 97:9

97:9 For you, O Lord, are the sovereign king ⁵  over the whole earth;

you are elevated high above all gods.

[82:6]  ¹ tn Heb “said.”

[82:6]  ² sn Normally in the OT the title Most High belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El (see v. 1, as well as Isa 14:13).

[96:4]  ³ tn Or perhaps “and feared by all gods.” See Ps 89:7.

[97:7]  ⁵ tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the Lord’s mighty theophany on those who witness it (see vv. 5, 8). Another option is to take the prefixed form in the first line as a jussive (“let all who worship idols be ashamed”) and the ambiguous form in the third line as an imperative (“All you gods, bow down before him!”; cf. NIV).

[97:9]  ⁷ tn Traditionally “Most High.”