What Does John 10:34 Mean?
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your instruction, I said, You are gods?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?THE KEY
Scripture addresses a plural group with the divine title, crossing a boundary English readers may assume is absolute.
THE MEANING
The word “gods” already stands in Scripture as a name addressed to a plural group. That prior use means the title alone cannot settle what Jesus’ claim means. The verse makes the reader’s handling of Scripture part of what is being examined.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A title associated with God can refer only to God in the singular.
THE ROOT
θεοί
theoi
GROWS FROM
θεός
theos
God, a god, or a deity; the verse uses the plural form of this noun.
The Greek θεοί (theoi, gods) is the plural of θεός (theos, God or a god). The verse’s force rests on Scripture already applying this same title to a group, rather than reserving it for a single referent.
ALSO GROWS
theos: God, a god, deity.
θεός
The plural in this verse comes from this singular noun, showing that “God” and “gods” are forms of the same Greek word.
theotēs: Deity, divine nature.
θεότης
This related noun names deity itself, showing that the word family can express more than a title for one person.
theios: Divine, pertaining to a god or deity.
θεῖος
This related adjective carries the same divine category into a description, making the question of who bears that designation central to the verse.
THE PATTERN
Scripture applies divine titles to multiple figures, so their referents emerge from the words around the title.
I have said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Uppermost.And the LORD said to Moses, See, I have set you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.For even if there are those called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords.THE THREAD
I have said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Uppermost.This is the line Jesus cites: the Hebrew אֱלֹהִים (elohim, gods) is addressed to a plural “you.” The shared wording shows that Scripture already uses this title for the figures it addresses.
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