Ps. 82.1 (God in the assembly of gods)

God / is standing / in the divine assembly
in the midst / of the gods / he pronounces judgment. 

The psalm opens rather abruptly.  And it begins an important thematic point to the psalm—by bracketing out the ‘calling of the assembly’ and by immediately portraying God as standing, the psalm focuses entirely on God’s authority and absolute mastery over the assembly. There is no hint of his needing to appeal to the assembly (to ask their permission) nor is there any hint that he does not have the absolute right to stand in their presence. The focus, important to note though, is in the action to be performed: judgment. In other words, the psalm centers its attention on God’s mastery over the assembly in order to draw attention to the utter authority with which he will render judgment. Just as nothing can challenge his authority to ‘stand’, so will nothing challenge his verdict. In the midst of the gods. This should be a truly fearful thing to envision in its overwhelming power. To see a ‘god’ is to be in the presence of a being of such tremendous and radiant power and authority that one often is overcome to the point of death. In some sense they are the source and concentration of all worldly authority; biblically speaking, they are ‘nation-power’. To see them, however, in submission to the ‘highest god’ would be doubly horrifying. One is, here, witnessing the entire concentration of divine power in a single assembly.