Charles Ellicott Commentary John 10:34

"Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods?" — John 10:34 (ASV)

Is it not written in your law?—Compare to Note on John 8:17. The passage quoted here is in Psalm 82:6, but the term “Law” is used here in a broad sense for the whole of the Old Testament. There are other examples of this usage in John 7:49; John 12:34; John 15:25; Romans 3:19; and 1 Corinthians 14:21.

I said, Ye are gods?—In the Hebrew of the Psalm, as in the Greek here, the pronoun is emphatic. “I myself said, Ye are gods?” The words are probably to be understood in the Psalm as spoken by God, who sits in judgment on the judges whom He had appointed, and gives the name of “gods” (Elohim) as representing Himself. See Exodus 4:16; Exodus 7:1; Exodus 18:15; Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8; Exodus 22:28; Deuteronomy 1:17; 1 Samuel 28:13; Psalms 8:5; Psalms 45:6; and compare to Perowne’s Notes on Psalm 82:0, and article “God,” in Kitto’s Biblical Cyclopœdia,Exodus 3:0, vol. ii., p. 144 and following.