Psalms 82:6
Psalms 82:66I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’
Jehovah's Witnesses cite ("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 , where Jesus quotes the verse, and to the NWT rendering of ("the Word was a god") to support the idea that Jesus can be "a god" — a mighty, divine being — yet not Almighty God. 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.
Protestants point out that 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 ) or is condemned for usurping it (the rebel gods of Psalm 82). Jesus fits neither category: he accepts worship without refusing it (, ) and the Father commands worship of him (). Furthermore, Jesus' quotation of in 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" () — a claim to unity with God that no Psalm 82 "god" ever made.