When it is said
At the Liturgy of Holy Saturday it takes the place of the Alleluia before the Gospel.
The choir sings the refrain, and the reader says the verses of the psalm between, one at a time.
While it is sung, the clergy change from the dark robes of the Passion into bright ones, and the church’s hangings are changed too.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
Dark robes to bright
On Holy Saturday Vespers is joined to the Liturgy of St Basil, and the service already belongs to Pascha. After the Epistle the doors of the altar are closed while this psalm is sung and the clergy change their robes. Then they come out and read the Gospel of the Resurrection over the tomb in the middle of the church (Matthew 28:1-20).
Once the Easter baptism
This Liturgy was first the Easter service at which new Christians were baptized. Its Epistle is still the reading for baptism, “all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3).
What the words mean
Who are the “gods”?
The psalm speaks to those who judge on earth. It calls them “gods” and rebukes them for favoring the wicked and failing the poor, then asks God Himself to rise and judge. Jesus quotes its words “You are gods” in John 10:34.
The Scripture in it
God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked. They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’ But like mortals you will die, and like rulers you will fall.” Arise, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are Your inheritance.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Ἀνάστα, ὁ Θεός, κρῖνον τὴν γῆν, ὅτι Σὺ κατακληρονομήσεις ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι.
Ὁ Θεὸς ἔστη ἐν συναγωγῇ Θεῶν, ἐν μέσῳ δὲ θεοὺς διακρινεῖ.
Ἀνάστα, ὁ Θεός, κρῖνον τὴν γῆν, ὅτι Σὺ κατακληρονομήσεις ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι.
Ἕως πότε κρίνετε ἀδικίαν, καὶ πρόσωπα ἁμαρτωλῶν λαμβάνετε;
Ἀνάστα, ὁ Θεός, κρῖνον τὴν γῆν, ὅτι Σὺ κατακληρονομήσεις ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι.
Κρίνατε ὀρφανῷ καὶ πτωχῷ, ταπεινὸν καὶ πένητα δικαιώσατε.
Ἀνάστα, ὁ Θεός, κρῖνον τὴν γῆν, ὅτι Σὺ κατακληρονομήσεις ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι.
Ἐξέλεσθε πένητα καὶ πτωχόν, ἐκ χειρὸς ἁμαρτωλοῦ ῥύσασθε αὐτόν.
Ἀνάστα, ὁ Θεός, κρῖνον τὴν γῆν, ὅτι Σὺ κατακληρονομήσεις ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι.
Οὐκ ἔγνωσαν, οὐδὲ συνῆκαν, ἐν σκότει διαπορεύονται, σαλευθήτωσαν πάντα τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς.
Ἀνάστα, ὁ Θεός, κρῖνον τὴν γῆν, ὅτι Σὺ κατακληρονομήσεις ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι.
Ἐγὼ εἶπα· Θεοί ἐστε, καὶ υἱοὶ Ὑψίστου πάντες· ὑμεῖς δὲ ὡς ἄνθρωποι ἀποθνῄσκετε,
καὶ ὡς εἷς τῶν ἀρχόντων πίπτετε.
Ἀνάστα, ὁ Θεός, κρῖνον τὴν γῆν, ὅτι Σὺ κατακληρονομήσεις ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι.