Texts in Conversation
Psalm 82 addresses the patron gods of the nations as the “sons of the Most High,” and warns that they will die like mortals for their failure to rule justly. The Aramaic Targum avoids this polytheistic language by replacing “gods” with “angels,” shifting the passage from a critique of rival deities to a description of elevated servants.
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Psalm 82:6
Hebrew Bible
4 Rescue the poor and needy. Deliver them from the power of the wicked. 5 They neither know nor understand. They stumble around in the dark, while all the foundations of the earth crumble. 6 I thought, ‘You are gods; all of you are sons of the Most High.’ 7 Yet you will die like mortals; you will fall like all the other rulers.” 8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth! For you own all the nations.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Targum Psalm 82:6
Targum
4 Save the poor and needy, from the hands of the wicked deliver them. 5 They do not know how to do good, and they do not understand the Torah, they walk in darkness; because of this, the pillars of the earth’s foundations shake. 6 I said, “You are reckoned as angels, and all of you are like angels of the height.” 7 But truly you will die like the sons of men; and like one of the leaders you will fall. 8 Arise, O Lord, judge all the inhabitants of the earth; for you will possess all the Gentiles.
Date: 200-600 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In Targum Psalm 82:6 the clause 'you are Gods' is indeed translated with 'behold: you are conceived of as angels.' But this interpretation is a palliation as well, because earlier Psalm 82:6 served as a proof-text for deification, as in a fragment of the War Scroll: 'I am reckoned with the gods and my dwelling is among the holy assembly ... I am reckon(ed] with the gods [and] my glory is with the sons of the King.' These changes in the targumic tradition are comprehensible only if there was a real danger of a literal interpretation ..."
Smelik, Willem F.
On Mystical Transformation of the Righteous into Light in Judaism
(pp. 122-144) Journal for the Study of Judaism, Vol. 26, 1995
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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