Hi Samuel. Thanksfor bringing this up. You caused me to do a study on this. I will post it as aseparate thread. The KJB is right, as always, and I will show why in just a fewminutes.

Exodus22:28 the gods or God?

Exodus 23:28 “the gods”, “God” or “thejudges”?

Exodus 23:28 -Thou shalt not revile thegods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.

John 10:34-35 - Jesus answered them,Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 35 If he called them gods, untowhom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

Psalms 82:1-2 - God standeth in the congregationof the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. 2 How long will ye judge unjustly,and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah…v.6-7 I have said, Ye are gods; andall of you are children of the most High, But ye shall die like men, and falllike one of the princes.

Exodus 7:1 - And the LORD said unto Moses,See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thyprophet.

King James Bible - Thou shalt not revilethe gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.

NKJV (NET, NASB, ESV, NIV, Jehovah WitnessNWT, Catholic St. Joseph NAB 1970, New Jerusalem 1985) - “You shall not revileGod, nor curse a ruler of your people.”

Yet many of these modern versions footnote- “or judges”.

Agreeing with the King James Bible arethe following Bible translations - Wycliffe 1395, Tyndale 1524, the Great Bible1540, Matthew’s Bible 1549, ,the Bishops’ Bible 1568, Douay-Rheims 1610, TheHebrew Publishing Company Old Testament 1936, Conservative Version 2005, God’sFirst Truth 1999.

This Hebrew Interlinear online - thegods.

https://studybible.info/IHOT/Exodus%2022:28

The Ancient Hebrew Bible 1907 - Thoushalt not revile the gods

https://archive.org/.../ancienthebre.../page/138/mode/2up...

The Greek Septuagint - “Thou shalt notrevile the gods, nor speak ill of the ruler of thy people.”

Other Versions - THE JUDGES

Geneva Bible 1599, Lesser Old Testament1835, Darby 1890, Bible in Basic English 1961, New Berkeley Version 1969, KJV21st Century, Third Millennium Bible 2010, Evangelical Heritage Version 2019,Jubilee Bible 2020 - Thou shalt not revile THE JUDGES, nor curse a princeamongst thy people.

The Complete Jewish Bible - You shallnot curse A JUDGE, neither shall you curse a prince among your people.

https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9883

Lamsa’s 1933 translation of the SyriacPeshitta - “You shall not revile THE JUDGE nor curse the ruler of your people.”

Wycliffe Bible 1395 online - Thou shaltnot backbite [the] gods, that is, (the) PRIESTS OR (the) JUDGES, and thou shaltnot curse the prince of thy people (and thou shalt not curse the leaders of thypeople).

Latin Vulgate - 28 Diis non detrahes,et principi populi tui non maledices. = not revile the gods….

https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/vul/exo022.htm#028

A Faithful Version 2022 - You shall notrevile God’s JUDGES, nor curse the ruler of your people.

The Romanian Fidela Bible 2021 -Sănu ocărești dumnezeii, nici să nu blestemi pe conducătorulpoporului tău. = You shall not revile the gods…

The French Martin bible 1744 - Tu nemédiras point des Juges, = the Judges.

Spanish Las Sagradas Escrituras 1549, Reina Valera1960-2015 - No maldecirás a los jueces = the judges.

The Portuguese Almeida Atualizada - Aos juízes nãomaldirás = the judges.

The Hebrew word used here is #430 Elohim,and even the NASB, NIV, NET, ISV, Holman Standard and NKJV and others havetranslated this word as JUDGES 3 times.

Exodus 22:8-9 NASB - If the thief isnot caught, then the owner of the house shall appear before THE JUDGES, to determinewhether he laid his hands on his neighbor’s property. 9 For every breach oftrust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for anylost thing about which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shallcome before THE JUDGES; he whom THE JUDGES condemn shall pay double to hisneighbor.

Both the Bible versions and the Biblecommentators differ among themselves as to how to translate this verse witheither “the gods” or “God” or even “the judges”, and what the verse means. Whether“the gods” refer to earthly judges, or the pagan gods or the true God ofIsrael.

Bible Commentators that agree with theidea that “the gods” refer to human judges.

Jamieson,Fausset and Brown Commentary - 28. gods—a word whichis several times in this chapter rendered “JUDGES” OR MAGISTRATES.

the ruler of thy people—and the chiefmagistrate who was also the high priest, at least in the time of Paul (Ac 23:1-5).

JohnGill - Thou shalt not revile the gods,.... MeaningNOT THE IDOLS OF THE GENTILES, which they reckon gods, and worship as such… BUTCIVIL MAGISTRATES, THE JUDGES OF THE LAND, AND THE LIKE, ARE MEANT, who arepowers ordained of God, are in his stead, and represent him, and thereforerespect should be shown them; nor should they be treated with any degree ofslight and contempt, which may discourage and intimidate them, and deter themfrom the execution of their office: the Targum of Jonathan interprets them ofJUDGES very rightly, agreeably to Psalm 82:1 and so Aben Ezra says,”THEY ARETHE JUDGES and the priests, the sons of Levi, with whom the law is:"

JohnCalvin - “Thou shalt not revile the gods.  Firstof all, He commands that we should think and speak reverently of JUDGES, andothers, who exercise the office of magistrate: nor is it to be questioned,that, in the ordinary idiom of the Hebrew language, He repeats the same thingtwice over; and consequently that THE SAME PERSONS ARE CALLED “gods” and“rulers of the people.” The name of God is, figuratively indeed, but most reasonably,applied to magistrates, upon whom, as the ministers of His authority, He hasinscribed a mark of His glory. “

MatthewPoole’s Commentary - Gods; not gods falsely socalled, as some would have it, as appears by 1 Kings 18:27 Jeremiah 10:11; BUTMAGISTRATES AND GOVERNORS WHETHER CIVIL OR ECCLESIASTICAL, as it is evident bothfrom Acts 23:3-5 and from the following words, which explain the former, accordingto the common use of Scripture, and from the title of gods commonly given tosuch, as Exodus 7:1 Psalm 82:6 John 10:34,35.

BensonCommentary - Exodus 22:28 - Thou shalt notrevile the gods — THAT IS, THE JUDGES AND MAGISTRATES. that is, Princes and magistratesare our fathers, whom the fifth commandment obligeth us to honour, and forbidsus to revile. St. Paul applies this law to himself, and owns that he ought notto speak evil of the ruler of his people, no, not though he was then his mostunrighteous persecutor, Acts 23:5.

Dan Wallace and NETversion footnote - The word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is “gods” or “God.”If taken as the simple plural, it could refer to the human judges, as it has inthe section of laws; this would match the parallelism in the verse. If it wastaken to refer to God, then the idea of cursing God would be more along theline of blasphemy. B. Jacob says that the word refers to functioning judges,and that would indirectly mean God, for they represented the religiousauthority, and the prince the civil authority (Exodus, 708).

The King James Bible is right, as always.