Psalm 138:1

Before the Angels Will I Sing

Side by Side

The Older Text

Septuagint, translated before Messiah

I will give thee thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; and I will sing psalms to thee before the angels; for thou hast heard all the words of my mouth.

The Later Text

Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross

I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.

Your KJV reads: “before the gods” with the Masoretic.

See what changed and why ↓

What Your Bible Says

I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.
Psalm 138:1 KJV

David promises to sing to Yahuah with his whole heart, and to do it “before the gods.” A careful reader stops here. Would David stand in front of idols to sing? Who are these gods?

What the Older Text Says

I will sing psalms to thee before the angels.
Psalm 138:1, Septuagint

In the Greek, David’s audience is the angels. He sings his praise in the presence of Yahuah’s heavenly servants. There is nothing strange about that. Heaven is listening when a man praises Yahuah. The next verse has David bowing toward Yahuah’s holy temple, and the angels stand in that presence.

What Changed

Nothing in the Hebrew letters. The word is elohim, mighty ones. The King James wrote “gods.” The Greek translators, before Messiah, understood it here as the angels.

So this is not a cut or a swapped word. It is a question of meaning: who are the mighty ones in front of whom David sings?

Who Are These Mighty Ones?

Scripture shows Yahuah surrounded by a heavenly court. “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods” (Psalm 82:1). The angels are present when sinners turn: “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10).

Reading elohim as angels fits that picture. David worships, and heaven’s servants hear him. Reading it as idols makes David sing to Yahuah in front of carved stones. Reading it as earthly rulers is possible, and the Psalm does say kings will praise Him (Psalm 138:4), but the Greek translators did not take it that way.

Purpose of the Change

Nothing was changed in the Hebrew here; the Greek translated the same word as angels. The pair matters because it shows how the translators the apostles trusted understood elohim when it speaks of heaven’s court.

The Bottom Line

The Hebrew says elohim. The Greek says angels. David was singing before the court of heaven.

The redeemed sing in the same company at the end: “And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders” (Revelation 14:3).

Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it

One Word, Many Uses

Elohim is a title of rank. It is used of Yahuah, of angels, of judges (Exodus 21:6, where the King James says “judges”), and of false gods. Yahushua Himself said of Israel’s judges, “If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Context tells the reader who is meant.

A Plural Word for One

Some teachers say the plural form of elohim hints at three persons in Yahuah. It does not. The same form is used for a single idol: the Philistines sacrificed “unto Dagon their god” (Judges 16:23). Dagon was one idol, and the Hebrew still says elohim. The form shows rank and greatness, not a number of persons.

An Honest Note

This is not a case of tampering. The Hebrew has always said elohim here, and “gods” is a fair word-for-word rendering. The Greek reading is a translation choice. The Greek also has a few words the Hebrew lacks: “O Lord,” and “for thou hast heard all the words of my mouth.” That extra line is not in the Masoretic text, and this page does not build anything on it.