Revised Standard Version and some other translations take verse 5 to be the words of the psalmist; most take them still to be the words of God, even though there is a change (which is not uncommon) from the second person of direct address to the third person. Good News Translation, for consistency, has kept the second person (also New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). It is possible, however, that the third person in verse 5 refers to “the evil men” of verse 4; but most take verse 5 to refer to the gods themselves. (Some, like Oesterley, believe verse 5 to be a later comment.)

The gods are accused of being ignorant and stupid, that is, they persistently ignore God’s laws, his will for humankind. In verse 5b they walk about in darkness does not mean the darkness of ignorance, but of unrighteousness, corruption, evil, as a result of which all the foundations of the earth are shaken. See a similar figure in 11.3. It is the moral universe which is in focus here, not the physical universe; Bible en français courant “the world is threatened with ruin.” Weiser’s comment on verse 5 is worth quoting: “No wonder that the foundations of the moral order on earth are shaken when those who had been appointed to act as the heavenly guardians of God’s order of the universe themselves do not even know and obey that order!” If the translator follows Good News Translation‘s “justice has disappeared…,” it will often be necessary to change this expression from a noun to a verb phrase; for example, “you do nothing justly anywhere in the world,” or “nothing that you do brings justice to the world,” or “you do nothing to help people everywhere live right.”

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 .