Chronological timeline of texts tagged with Divine Council
About This Tag
The concept of the divine council, a celestial assembly of gods or divine beings, is a prominent theme in ancient Near Eastern texts and is echoed in the Hebrew Bible. Found in Mesopotamian, Canaanite, and Ugaritic literature, these councils typically feature a high god presiding over lesser deities who serve as advisors or functionaries. This imagery appears in many biblical passages where YHWH is depicted as ruling over a heavenly court.
Note: Dates shown in this timeline are approximate and based on scholarly estimates.
Back to Tag2300 B.C.E.
KTU 1.4
Ancient Near East
Valiant Baal rejoiced: 'My house I have built of silver, my palace out of gold!' The offerings of his house Baal presented; Hadd presented the offerings of his palace. He slaughtered oxen and sheep: he felled bulls and the fattest of rams, year-old calves, skipping lambs, kids. While they ate the gods drank. Then they were served suckling animals, with a jaw-shaped knife fillets of fatling. From goblets they drank wine, from cups of gold the juice of grapes.
2300 B.C.E.
KTU I.2
Ancient Near East
The Father of the Bright One (has) two wives... Yam sent messengers, Ruler Nahar an embassy. With great rejoicing they flew heavenwards their nostrils flaring. Depart, divine assistants, do not stay! Indeed, set your faces towards the convocation of the Council, towards the divine mountain. At the feet of El you shall fall you shall honour the convocation of the Council! Standing upright, you shall then speak, declaring your message. And you shall say to Bull your father El, declare to the convocation of the Council: Message of Yam, your master, of your lord, Ruler Nahar: Give up the god whom you obey, the one whom you obey, Tempest! Give up Baal and his retinue, the Son of Dagan, whose gold I shall seize! The divine assistants depart; they do not delay. Then they set their faces towards the divine mountain, towards the convocation of the Council. Now the gods were sitting to eat,
2100 B.C.E.
Epic of Gilgamesh VI
Ancient Near East
Gilgamesh spoke to Utanapishtim, the Faraway: I have been looking at you, but your appearance is not strange - you are like me! You yourself are not different - you are like me! My mind was resolved to fight with you, but instead my arm lies useless over you. Tell me, how is it that you stand in the Assembly of the Gods, and have found life! Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying: I will reveal to you, Gilgamesh, a thing that is hidden, a secret of the gods I will tell you!
2100 B.C.E.
Epic of Gilgamesh VII
Ancient Near East
The gods were cowering like dogs, crouching by the outer wall. Ishtar shrieked like a woman in childbirth, the sweet-voiced Mistress of the Gods wailed: The olden days have alas turned to clay, because I said evil things in the Assembly of the Gods! How could I say evil things in the Assembly of the Gods, ordering a catastrophe to destroy my people! No sooner have I given birth to my dear people than they fill the sea like so many fish! The gods - those of the Anunnaki - were weeping with her, the gods humbly sat weeping, sobbing with grief, their lips burning, parched with thirst.
1500 - 1300 B.C.E.
The Baal Cycle
Ancient Near East
Baal organizes for his dwelling Hadd arranges for his palace. He slaughters large livestock and small: He slaughters bulls and fatling rams Year-old calves Sheep in droves, and kids. He invites his siblings into his house His kin within his palace; He invites the seventy sons of Athirat. He offers the gods rams Offers the goddesses ewes. He offers the gods bulls Offers the goddesses cows. He offers the gods thrones Offers the goddesses seats.
1200 B.C.E.
KAI 26.iii
Ancient Near East
But if any king of kings, or prince of princes, or any man who is a man of renown, should erase the name of Azatiwada from this gate and put (his own) name (on it), or even should he covet this city and tear out this gate which Azatiwada made, and make for it a different gate and put his name upon it whether he tears it out with covetousness or with hatred and evil he tears out this gate—then may Baʿal-Shamem and El Creator-of-Earth and the eternal Sun and the entire assembly of the sons of the gods blot out that kingdom and that king and that man!
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 1:26
Hebrew Bible
25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 3:22
Hebrew Bible
21 The Lord God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Genesis 11:7
Hebrew Bible
6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.” 8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city.
5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 24:11
Hebrew Bible
5 He sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls for peace offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar. 7 He took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey all that the Lord has spoken.” 8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of blue sapphire, clear like the sky itself. 11 But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank. 12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them.”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 4:19
Hebrew Bible
17 any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, 18 anything that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters under the earth. 19 When you look up to the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—the whole heavenly creation—you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, for the Lord your God has assigned them to all the people of the world. 20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, to be his special people as you are today. 21 But the Lord became angry with me because of you and vowed that I would never cross the Jordan nor enter the good land that he is about to give you.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 32:8
Hebrew Bible
6 Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish, unwise people? Is he not your father, your Creator? He has made you and established you. 7 Remember the ancient days; bear in mind the years of past generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly. 9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession. 10 The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Deuteronomy 32:9
Hebrew Bible
7 Remember the ancient days; bear in mind the years of past generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly. 9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession. 10 The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, so the Lord spread out his wings and took him, he lifted him up on his pinions.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Judges 11:24
Hebrew Bible
22 They took all the Amorite territory from the Arnon River on the south to the Jabbok River on the north, from the desert in the east to the Jordan in the west. 23 Since the Lord God of Israel has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them? 24 You have the right to take what Chemosh your god gives you, but we will take the land of all whom the Lord our God has driven out before us. 25 Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them? 26 Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for 300 years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time?
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
1 Kings 22:19
Hebrew Bible
17 Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, ‘They have no master. They should go home in peace.’” 18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?” 19 Micaiah said, “That being the case, listen to the Lord’s message. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, with all the heavenly assembly standing beside him on his right and on his left. 20 The Lord said, ‘Who will deceive Ahab, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die there?’ One said this and another that. 21 Then a spirit stepped forward and stood before the Lord. He said, ‘I will deceive him.’
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Kings 17:16
Hebrew Bible
15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. 16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, and worshiped Baal. 17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire, and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry. 18 So the Lord was furious with Israel and rejected them; only the tribe of Judah was left.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Kings 21:3
Hebrew Bible
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just as King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my home.” 5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky.
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
2 Kings 23:4
Hebrew Bible
3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, by carrying out the terms of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant. 4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, and the guards to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. The king burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 He eliminated the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 1:17
Hebrew Bible
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I look the other way; when you offer your many prayers, I do not listen because your hands are covered with blood. 16 Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your sinful deeds from my sight. Stop sinning. 17 Learn to do what is right. Promote justice. Give the oppressed reason to celebrate. Take up the cause of the orphan. Defend the rights of the widow. 18 “Come, let’s consider your options,” says the Lord. “Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool. 19 If you have a willing attitude and obey, then you will again eat the good crops of the land.
7th-5th Centuries B.C.E.
Isaiah 6:8
Hebrew Bible
6 But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” 8 I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” I answered, “Here I am, send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell these people: “‘Listen continually, but don’t understand. Look continually, but don’t perceive.’
5th Century B.C.E.
Zechariah 3:1
Hebrew Bible
1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Isn’t this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood there before the angel.
5th Century B.C.E.
Zechariah 14:5
Hebrew Bible
4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives that lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward. 5 Then you will escape through my mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him. 6 On that day there will be no light—the sources of light in the heavens will congeal.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 29:1
Hebrew Bible
1 A psalm of David. Acknowledge the Lord, you heavenly beings, acknowledge the Lord’s majesty and power. 2 Acknowledge the majesty of the Lord’s reputation. Worship the Lord in holy attire. 3 The Lord’s shout is heard over the water; the majestic God thunders, the Lord appears over the surging water.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 82:1
Hebrew Bible
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.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 82:3
Hebrew Bible
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.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 89:5
Hebrew Bible
3 The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant: 4 ‘I will give you an eternal dynasty and establish your throne throughout future generations.’” (Selah) 5 O Lord, the heavens praise your amazing deeds, as well as your faithfulness in the angelic assembly. 6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings,
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 96:7
Hebrew Bible
5 For all the gods of the nations are worthless, but the Lord made the sky. 6 Majestic splendor emanates from him; his sanctuary is firmly established and beautiful. 7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the nations, ascribe to the Lord splendor and strength. 8 Ascribe to the Lord the splendor he deserves. Bring an offering and enter his courts. 9 Worship the Lord in holy attire. Tremble before him, all the earth.
6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E.
Psalm 103:20
Hebrew Bible
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven; his kingdom extends over everything. 20 Praise the Lord, you angels of his, you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees and obey his orders. 21 Praise the Lord, all you warriors of his, you servants of his who carry out his desires. 22 Praise the Lord, all that he has made, in all the regions of his kingdom. Praise the Lord, O my soul.
5th Century B.C.E.
Job 1:6
Hebrew Bible
5 When the days of their feasting were finished, Job would send for them and sanctify them; he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s customary practice. 6 Now the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord—and Satan also arrived among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” And Satan answered the Lord, “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” 8 So the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil.”
5th Century B.C.E.
Job 2:1
Hebrew Bible
1 Again the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also arrived among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” 3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly to his integrity, so that you stirred me up to destroy him without reason.”
5th Century B.C.E.
Job 15:15
Hebrew Bible
12 Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, 13 when you turn your rage against God and allow such words to escape from your mouth? 14 What is man that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? 15 If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, 16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water!
2nd Century B.C.E.
Daniel 7:10
Hebrew Bible
9 “While I was watching, thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His attire was white like snow; the hair of his head was like lamb’s wool. His throne was ablaze with fire, and its wheels were all aflame. 10 A river of fire was streaming forth and proceeding from his presence. Many thousands were ministering to him; many tens of thousands stood ready to serve him. The court convened, and the books were opened. 11 “Then I kept on watching because of the arrogant words of the horn that was speaking. I was watching until the beast was killed and its body destroyed and thrown into the flaming fire.
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Deuteronomy 32:8
Septuagint
6 Do you repay the Lord in this way with these things, foolish and unwise people? Did not he, this one, your father, acquire you and make you? 7 Remember days of old; consider years of generations upon generations; ask your father, and he will say it to you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High distributed nations as he scattered the sons of Adam, he set up boundaries for the nations according to the number of the angels of God. 9 And his people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel an allotment of his inheritance. 10 He supplied them in the desert, in the thirst of burning heat; in a dry land he surrounded them and disciplined them, and he guarded them as the pupil of his eye.
1st Century B.C.E.
LXX Psalm 81:1
Septuagint
1 God stood in the assembly of the gods, and in the middle he judges the gods. 2 How long will you judge unjustly and take the faces of sinners? Musical interlude 3 Consider the orphaned and the needy; vindicate the low and the poor. 4 Deliver the poor and the needy; rescue them from the hand of the sinner. 5 They did not know, nor did they understand. In darkness they passed through. All the foundations of the earth will be shaken.
195-175 B.C.E.
Sirach 17:7
Deuterocanon
14 He said to them, "Beware of all evil." And he gave commandment to each of them concerning the neighbor. 15 Their ways are always known to him; they will not be hid from his eyes. 17 He appointed a ruler for every nation, but Israel is the Lord's own portion. 19 All their works are as clear as the sun before him, and his eyes are ever upon their ways. 20 Their iniquities are not hidden from him, and all their sins are before the Lord. 22 One's almsgiving is like a signet ring with the Lord, and he will keep a person's kindness like the apple of his eye.
200-300 C.E.
Jonathan 1 Kings 22:19
Targum
18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?' 19 And Micaiah said, 'Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the glory of the Lord resting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. 20 And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
200-600 C.E.
Targum Psalm 82:1
Targum
1 A hymn composed by Asaph. God, his presence abides in the assembly of the righteous who are strong in Torah; he will give judgment in the midst of the righteous judges. 2 How long, O wicked, will you judge falsely, and lift up the faces of the wicked forever? 3 Judge the poor and the orphan; acquit the needy and the poor. 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.
300-1200 C.E.
The beloved children have corrupted their good works, a blemish is found upon them; a perverse generation which have altered their works; so shall the order of this world"s judgment be altered upon them. Can you indeed so requite the Name of the Word of the Lord, O foolish people, and receive the law, yet not be made wise? Is He not your Father who bought you, who created you and established you? Remember the days of old; consider the years of every generation; read the books of the law, and they will teach you, and the books of the prophets, and they will tell you. When the Most High made allotment of the world unto the nations which proceeded from the sons of Noach, in the separation of the writings and languages of the children of men at the time of the division, He cast the lot among the seventy angels, the princes of the nations with whom is the revelation to oversee the city, even at that time He established the limits of the nations according to the sum of the number of the seventy souls of Israel who went down into Mizraim. And when the holy people fell to the lot of the Lord of all the world, Michael opened his lips and said: Let the good portion of the Name of the Lord"s Word be with Him. Gabriel opened his lips with thanksgivings, and said, Let the house of Jakob be the lot of His inheritance.