Because we believe in human exaltation, Latter-day Saints are usually familiar with Psalm 82:6, where the psalmist declares, “I have said, Ye are gods.” We frequently cite this verse, along with Christ’s quotation of it in John 10, as biblical evidence of our divine potential. However, when we read this text through the lens of the ancient Near East, a very different—but equally fascinating—theological drama emerges. A compelling new interview over at the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, features biblical scholar Dan McClellan, who breaks down the historical context of Psalm 82. McClellan explains that the psalm was originally written not as a manual on human progression, but as a heavenly lawsuit against the patron deities of foreign nations, illustrating how the ancient Israelites used this courtroom scene to process the trauma of the Babylonian exile and universalize the authority of YHWH.
The Divine Council and the Indictment
To understand Psalm 82, readers must step into the ancient Israelite worldview, which envisioned a divine council of lesser deities who governed the various nations of the earth under the supreme sovereignty of YHWH. McClellan notes that the psalm is structured as a legal proceeding within this heavenly court.
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, these patron gods are indicted for failing to protect the poor and needy and for allowing the social and cosmic order to collapse, culminating in the Babylonian exile of Judah.
De-deification as Punishment
Because these lesser gods failed in their administrative duties, YHWH issues a devastating sentence: they will lose their immortality.
To deprive them of their immortality is to de-deify them, or render them mortal and no longer divine.
By stripping these deities of their godhood, their seats on the divine council are vacated. The psalmist then petitions YHWH to rise up and inherit all the nations Himself, essentially taking over the empty seats and consolidating all divine authority.
The Problem of Geography
Why did the psalmist need to write this heavenly takeover? McClellan explains that in the ancient world, deities were strictly bound to their specific geographic territories.
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?
When the Israelites were carried away captive into Babylon, they faced a theological crisis: they were no longer in YHWH’s territory. By writing a psalm where YHWH deposes the gods of Babylon and all other nations, the author cleverly “universalizes God’s authority, allowing Him to be worshipped and active in all the nations of the earth rather than in Israel alone.”
Jesus and the Rabbinic Tradition
If the original context of Psalm 82 was about a pantheon of ancient national deities, why did Jesus quote it in the New Testament to defend His own divinity and apply it to mortal men? McClellan points out that the interpretation of the text evolved over the centuries.
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.
By the first century, Jewish tradition had reimagined the “gods” of the psalm as human beings who received the law, a tradition Jesus seamlessly leveraged during His mortal ministry to turn back a charge of blasphemy.
In the Latter-day Saint tradition, B. H. Roberts quoted this exchange in the New Testament, noting that “when Jesus was accused of making himself God, he did not deny the charge; but on the contrary, called their attention to the fact that God in the law he had given to Israel had said to some of them—’Ye are Gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.’” (Cited in Chad Nielsen, A Beginner’s Guide to B. H. Roberts: Excerpts from the Writings of B. H. Roberts [Deseret Merlin Press, 2025], 123.) Along those lines, McClellan observed, “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.’”
For more of McClellan’s insights on how this psalm bridges the gap between ancient polytheistic frameworks and later monotheism, the structure of ancient lamentations, and the theological blame placed on patron deities, head on over to the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, to read the full interview about the gods in Psalm 82.
While you’re there, check out the new Joseph F. Smith Quotes page!
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