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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 82

1 A psalm of Asaph. God stands in the assembly of El; in the midst of the gods he renders judgment.⁠ 2 He says, “How long will you make unjust legal decisions and show favoritism to the wicked?⁠ (Selah)⁠ 3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless. Vindicate the oppressed and suffering.⁠ 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.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 82:6 and Avodah Zarah 5a

Hebrew Bible · Rabbinic

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Summary

Psalm 82 addresses the divine council, calling them gods and sons of the Most High, then says they will die like mortals. Rabbinic tradition in Avodah Zarah interprets this as Israel at Sinai, made divine by receiving the Torah but later marred by sin.

Passages

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.”
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

Avodah Zarah 5a

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
Rather, the baraita explains that the Jewish people accepted the Torah only in order that no nation or tongue would rule over them, as it is stated in the same verse: “That it might be good for them, and with their children forever.” This indicates that had the Jewish people not sinned they would not have achieved immortality, which contradicts Reish Lakish’s statement. The Gemara answers: Reish Lakish said his statement in accordance with the opinion of that tanna. As it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yosei says: The Jewish people accepted the Torah only in order that the Angel of Death would not rule over them, as it is stated: “I said: You are godlike beings, and all of you sons of the Most High” (Psalms 82:6), i.e., they had become immortal like angels. Then, God states: After you ruined your deeds, “yet you shall die like a man, and fall like one of the princes” (Psalms 82:7). The Gemara asks: And also, according to Rabbi Yosei, isn’t it written: “That it might be good for them, and with their children forever,” from which it may be inferred that although it will be good for them if they remain in this elevated state, there will still be death? The Gemara answers: Rabbi Yosei could have said to you: Since there is no death, there is no greater good than this, i.e., the promise of the verse is immortality.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Avodah Zarah

References

"... The exact same tension exists throughout rabbinic texts, with scholars emphasizing, depending on interest, either the moments when human/divine appear to be fixed in some way or the violations of boundaries. Rabbinic texts are full of citations which place (some) Jews across the human/divine division. The verse "You are gods" (Psalm 82:6) is understood by numerous rabbinic exegetes to present Jews as being, at certain times and place, boundary-crossers. Israel was created immortal like the deity (Numbers Rabbah 16:24). They did not even have to defecate since they did not eat normal human foods. Originally they did not have sexual intercourse, since they had no need to produce additional members of the group. Israelites would not have had children if they had not sinned with the golden calf and thus lost status their status as "elohim" (Avodah Zarah 5a). Paralleling Sinai, on the Day of Atonement the divine status of Jews is revealed, since at that moment they recite the formula "Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom." ..."
Naomi Janowitz, “Multiple Divine Beings in Late Antique Jewish Theology,” in With Letters of Light: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism in Honor of Rachel Elior, ed. Daphna V. Arbel and Andrei A. Orlov, Ekstasis: Religious Experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages 2 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 2011), 356.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Comments

  • This line of argument has so many holes

    Paul, September 5, 2026

Psalm 82:6 and Avodah Zarah 5a

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