All gods bow down to Him.
For the somewhat ambiguous background of formulations of this sort in this
sequence of psalms, see the comments on 95:3 and 96:5. At least on the surface,
this clause appears to be a flat contradiction of the two preceding versets,
which speak of “idol worshippers” and “ungods.” (For an explanation of the
Hebrew background to this latter term, see the note on 96:5). One must allow
the possibility that the psalmist thought idol worship absurd, not because the
idols were mere sticks and stones, as Deutero-Isaiah imagined them, but rather
because they were images of deities who had no real power, who were totally
subservient to the one supreme God, and therefore were not worthy of worship.
In that case, ʾelilim, “ungods,” would mean something like “paltry
pseudo-gods.” (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, 2019], 3:230-31)
