The “gods” of Psalm 82 were originally divine beings who governed foreign nations in the Hebrew Bible. In the scripture’s heavenly courtroom scene, YHWH stripped the lesser deities of their godhood as a punishment for failing to protect the poor and needy. In doing so, he asserted himself not just as the god of Israel, but also as the sovereign Lord of all nations. Centuries later, Jesus quoted Psalm 82:6 in John 10 to defend himself against a charge of blasphemy. By citing the famous line, “I said, ‘You are gods,'” Jesus leveraged a rabbinic tradition that applied the text to human beings, influencing the way we now view humanity and divinity. In this interview, Bible scholar Dan McClellan walks through the psalm’s historical context, its New Testament reinterpretation, and its modern legacy among Latter-day Saints.
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The Ancient Near East Context of Psalm 82
—In its original context, the psalm portrays a heavenly lawsuit where YHWH strips foreign national deities of their immortality for failing to protect the poor, thereby universalizing his rule over all nations.
How should a first-time reader approach Psalm 82?
I would say Psalm 82 is a type of lawsuit being argued in a heavenly court. In this lawsuit, the God of Israel accuses the other deities of the various nations of the earth of neglecting their duties as national deities.
Specifically, by allowing the nation of Judah to be exiled to Babylon, the God of Israel says these other gods have failed to uphold cosmic and social justice.
As punishment, the God of Israel condemns them all to mortality—which effectively deposes them from their seats on the divine council.
The God of Israel becomes the God over all the nations.
This leaves those seats empty, and in the final verse, the psalmist calls on God to rise up, act as judge over the earth, and inherit all nations.
In other words, the God of Israel will assume the positions vacated by the other national deities and become the God over all the nations of the earth.
Who is speaking in the divine council scene?
Both the psalmist and YHWH speak in Psalm 82:
- Verse 1: A narrative framework that describes the scene in the first verse of Psalm 82.
- Verses 2-7: A deity stands, addresses the council, and speaks from the second to the seventh verses.
- Verse 8: The psalmist or narrator then speaks again in verse eight. The psalm is a hybrid of a complaint psalm and a divine council court scene.
Are the “gods” (elohim) divine beings or human judges?
The gods addressed in Psalm 82 are the patron or national deities of the various nations of the earth who make up the divine council over which YHWH, the God of Israel, was understood to be sovereign.
Other interpretations view these gods as angels, often the guardian angels of the various nations of the earth (as seen in Daniel 10, for instance), or as human judges.
What happens when YHWH strips these “gods” of their immortality?
The idea here was to depose the gods of the nations for their failure to uphold their duties to cosmic and social justice and order. To deprive them of their immortality is to de-deify them, or render them mortal and no longer divine.
This is the main point of the entire psalm, which was likely written in the post-exilic period to universalize YHWH’s rule at a time when Judahites were living outside the land of Israel.
At that time, they would have been perceived as being outside the scope of YHWH’s sovereignty.
Where else does this nation-specific theology appear in the Old Testament?
This is why Naaman in the book of Kings must bring two cartloads of Israelite soil back with him to Syria: so he could worship YHWH in Syria.
It’s also why David complained to Saul that Saul’s men were driving him out of “YHWH’s inheritance,” effectively telling him, “go worship other gods.”
The exiled Judahites also rhetorically ask, “Who can sing the song of YHWH in a foreign land?”
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The “Gods-Complaint” Genre: Who Is Lamenting in Psalm 82?
—McClellan classifies Psalm 82 as a “Gods-complaint,” altering the traditional lament genre by putting the lawsuit directly into the mouth of YHWH.
What genre of literature is Psalm 82?
I propose classifying Psalm 82 as what I call a “Gods-complaint,” a genre that represents a unique form of lament.
As context, scholars have identified a handful of Psalms genres, including the common “lament” psalm. In this genre, the psalmist laments their suffering—either individually or communally—and calls upon God to make things right.
A specific type of lament within the Psalms has been called the “Gods-complaint.” In this case, the psalmist complains to God about His neglect of their circumstances.
What is the typical sequence of a complaint psalm?
A Gods-complaint psalm generally follows this narrative sequence:
- Make a complaint: The Gods-complaint usually begins by asking “how long?” or “why?” It is the psalmist’s response to some suffering God has allowed to take place.
- Issue demands: The psalmist then goes on to list a series of demands of God.
- Remind God how he’s helped before: Frequently, the psalmist will also remind God of what He has done in the past to save or protect the psalmist.
- Ask God to help now: Then, it will usually end with a petition that calls on God to jump into action.
How do biblical scholars view the structure of this lawsuit?
Scholars have long debated whether or not Psalm 82 constitutes a lament or a Gods-complaint. Many of them have insisted that there are other elements that are too central to the psalm for it to be just a complaint.
I have argued in a 2018 article in the Journal of Biblical Literature is that the psalm is an innovation on the complaint genre, in which the complaint is placed in the mouth of God and directed to the other gods of the nations.
The divine council court scene becomes the narrative framework that allows God to ask the other gods, “How long?” like a psalm of lament. It also allows God to list a series of demands that the psalmist normally conveys.
This genre allows the narrator to step in and offer the concluding petition.
In the case of Psalm 82, God isn’t interested in the other gods’ saving deeds or in petitioning them to jump into action. Instead, the divine council court scene comes to the fore so God can condemn the other deities to mortality, leaving the seats on the divine council empty.
That innovative take on a traditional complaint psalm allows the narrator to step in and offer the concluding petition.
In Psalm 82, the petition effectively universalizes God’s authority, allowing Him to be worshipped and active in all the nations of the earth rather than in Israel alone.
What was the rhetorical goal of writing this psalm during the exile?
I think the main concern here is the compromised integrity of the nation of Israel and the inability of the people of Judah to worship God while they’re in other nations. As a result, the rhetorical goal is to universalize YHWH’s rule.
The authors understand this problem to reflect a breakdown in cosmic and social justice and order, which were ultimately the responsibility of the gods and the nation’s kings to maintain.
Understanding Psalm 82 as a Gods-complaint lays the blame for the Babylonian exile and the social upheaval that resulted at the feet of the patron deities of the nations of the earth.
This reflects a rather ancient notion that social and cosmic order, predictability, and homeostasis were all maintained by the gods.
Why Does Jesus Quote Psalm 82:6 in John 10?
—Jesus quotes this passage to outflank a blasphemy charge, leveraging a Jewish tradition that the “gods” were the mortal Israelites who temporarily received immortality at Mount Sinai.
What text from Psalm 82 does Jesus quote in the New Testament?
In John 10:34, Jesus quotes only the first clause of Psalm 82:6:
I said, “You are gods.”
Psalm 82:6
What is the historical context behind the blasphemy charge against Jesus?
Jesus brings up this verse in response to an accusation on the part of his opponents that he is committing blasphemy. Their reasoning is that Jesus, being a human, is making himself a god.
He quotes Psalm 82 precisely because he seems to understand it as referring to humans as gods.
How did Jesus use the phrase “You are gods” to defend his divinity?
Jesus’s view of Psalm 82 likely reflects his endorsement of an interpretation found in later Rabbinic literature, which understands the “gods” of Psalm 82 to be the Israelites at Sinai.
Upon reception of the law, the Sinai Israelites were freed from the power of the Angel of Death, rendering them immortal—and therefore gods.
Jesus’s use of the scripture refutes their accusation of blasphemy.
By showing the scriptures refer to humans as gods, Jesus refutes their accusation that a human making themselves a god would be blasphemous.
Jesus is the very word of God that came to the humans of Psalm 82 and rendered them divine. As such, what else is needed when he claims to be the son of God?
Who are the “gods” according to the Gospel of John?
John 10 appears to identify the gods as humans. That would make the most sense of Jesus’s appeal to Psalm 82:6 in response to the accusation of blasphemy.
However, that doesn’t help us understand who the gods were perceived to be by the authors and original audiences of the Psalm itself.
Remember, John 10 was written several centuries later by someone influenced by vastly different sociocultural and ideological experiences and frameworks.
By the time of John 10, the gods of the nations had been demoted to angelic status, leading to the reinterpretation of passages such as Genesis 6:2–4 and Deuteronomy 32:8–9 as references to angels rather than gods.
Why did Jesus quote Psalm 82:6 to his opponents?
In my opinion, Jesus’s use of Psalm 82 shows his intent is to leverage scripture to show humanity and deity are not so binary and incommensurate.
It rhetorically outflanks the accusation against him. Jesus uses verse six to show that the scriptures do the same thing his opponents say is blasphemy.
His quotation also advances Johannine soteriology by pointing out that the Word can make humans divine. (Other scholars and I suggest that is how the author of the Gospel of John understood salvation.)
Can you harmonize the differing views of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament?
I don’t think there’s a good way to harmonize the two contexts.
In the earliest sense, it is about expanding God’s authority over the other nations of the earth by deposing their gods.
In another sense, it represents Jesus outsmarting his opponents by showing that the Word of God is capable of making humanity divine.
Psalm 82 Meaning in Latter-day Saint Tradition
—Latter-day Saints often read this text to affirm human divine potential, a devotional reinterpretation that requires a renegotiation of the original text but directly mirrors how Jesus used scripture.
How do Latter-day Saints interpret “Ye are gods”?
I think Latter-day Saints commonly understand Psalm 82 through the lens of John 10. It affirms the notion that humans are children of God and therefore have the seed of divinity within them.
This is why Psalm 82:6 has so long been one of the cross-references published with the hymn, “I Am A Child of God.”
What extra insights does a critical, academic approach offer to religious readers?
I would say there are things for Latter-day Saints to learn from a critical approach to these texts.
However, leveraging Psalm 82 and John 10 to serve traditional Latter-day Saint ideologies probably requires renegotiating the intended senses of the passages.
Did Jesus “misuse” scripture by changing its original intent?
No. In my opinion, Jesus’s reinterpretation of Psalm 82 aligns with how all scripture-based communities approach religious texts: they do so in a way that makes sense of their time and place.
Jesus is also on solid ground from a rhetorical perspective.
As I explained in an Interpreter article about Psalm 82 in contemporary Latter-day Saint tradition:
On a literary level, Jesus’s defense here has a wider rhetorical purpose, as well. Not only does he identify himself as one of the Jews by appealing to a shared understanding of the Psalm’s meaning, but by appealing to that tradition, whereby those who received the word were made divine, the author reminds the readers/listener of a promise made a few verses early (John 10:28): “I give to them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”
John 1:12 is no doubt also in view here: “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.”
John’s message is this: The Israelites were briefly made immortal and thus divine by the reception of God’s word. The Word is now incarnate among you, and he is inviting you to receive him.
John 10:34-36 and Jesus’s appeal to Psalm 82 is not just about Jesus’s divinity, it is also about the divinity of those who hear and believe.
Dan McClellan, “Psalm 82 in Contemporary Latter-day Saint Tradition” (Interpreter, 2015)
Final Reflections: What the 82nd Psalm Teaches Us About Authority
—Ultimately, the evolution of this text shows that scriptural authority is an ongoing negotiation, where writers in every era adapt received traditions to serve new theological needs.
How do ancient texts negotiate and claim true authority?
I think one thing this passage shows us is that authority is a matter of consensus, and authors leverage their received traditions to endow their own writings with authority.
Both the authors of Psalm 82 and John 10 engage with authoritative knowledge, but also alter it slightly to advance new ways of thinking about that knowledge in new circumstances and in response to new rhetorical goals.
This is the ongoing process of negotiation with the texts that none of us can ever really fully escape.
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About the Scholar
Daniel O. McClellan is a biblical scholar of the Hebrew Bible whose research focuses on divine councils, monotheism, and the ancient Near Eastern context of Israelite religion. He holds a PhD in Theology and Religion from the University of Exeter, as well as master’s degrees in Jewish Studies (University of Oxford) and Biblical Studies (Trinity Western University). McClellan has published and presented on Psalm 82 and related passages, including its interpretation in John 10 and contemporary Latter-day Saint tradition. He also co-hosts the Data Over Dogma podcast, working to combat online misinformation about the Bible.
Further Reading
Explore more From the Desk articles about how themes from Psalm 82 appear in scripture and religious tradition:
- “The Bible Says So”: An Interview with Dan McClellan
- How Do Latter-day Saints Use Study Bibles?
- What Did Robert Alter Learn by Translating the Hebrew Bible?
- Why Do Latter-day Saints Still Use the King James Version?
- What Is the Latter-day Saint View of Human Nature in Psalm 82?
Psalm 82 Commentary
Read what top scholars and publishers say about the context, meaning, and identity of the “gods” in the 82nd Psalm:
- Psalm 82 in Contemporary Latter-day Saint Tradition (Interpreter)
- Come Follow Me—Psalms (Ben Spackman)
- The Gods-Complaint: Psalm 82 as a Psalm of Complaint (Journal of Biblical Literature)
- The Earliest Patristic Interpretations of PSALM 82, Jewish Antecedents, and the Origin of Christian Deification (The Journal of Theological Studies)
- The Rabbinic Interpretation of Psalm 82 and the Gospel of John: John 10:34 (Cambridge University Press)
- Joseph Smith and the Poetic Writings (BYU Religious Studies Center)
