---
title: Psalms 82:6
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-82-6/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-82-6.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Psalms 82:6
testament: OT
section: Poetry
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Psalms 82:6

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’

## JW Usage

Jehovah's Witnesses cite Psalm 82:6 ("I said, 'You are gods'") to argue that the title "god" is flexible and can be applied to beings other than Jehovah without implying full deity. They connect this to John 10:34, where Jesus quotes the verse, and to the NWT rendering of John 1:1 ("the Word was a god") to support the idea that Jesus can be "a god" — a mighty, divine being — yet not Almighty God. Psalm 82:6 is presented as proof that a "god" category exists below Jehovah, and Jesus fits within it. The Watchtower sometimes identifies the "gods" of Psalm 82 as human judges who received God's word, making the title even more modest — if human judges could bear the title, Jesus certainly can without it implying he is YHWH.

## Protestant Usage

Protestants point out that Psalm 82:6 actually undermines the JW position when read in full context. The "gods" addressed here — whether divine council beings or corrupt human judges — are under God's judgement for injustice and are sentenced to "die like men" in verse 7. Every non-YHWH elohim in the Old Testament either refuses worship (loyal angels, as in Revelation 22:8-9) or is condemned for usurping it (the rebel gods of Psalm 82). Jesus fits neither category: he accepts worship without refusing it (Matthew 14:33, John 20:28) and the Father commands worship of him (Hebrews 1:6). Furthermore, Jesus' quotation of Psalm 82:6 in John 10:34-36 is a qal wahomer (lesser-to-greater) argument: if Scripture called those condemned beings "gods," how much more fitting is the title for the One the Father sanctified and sent? Jesus then claims "the Father is in me, and I am in the Father" (John 10:38) — a claim to unity with God that no Psalm 82 "god" ever made.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Elohim Category Trap](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/elohim-category.md) — Psalm 82 — If Jesus Is 'a God,' Which Kind? [Deity of Christ]
- [Gods Who Die and God to Pharaoh Don't Parallel Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm82-exodus71-gods-parallel.md) — Psalm 82:6-7 / Exodus 7:1 / John 10:34-36 [Deity of Christ]