God and “Gods” — Poetic Ambiguity and Wordplay: A Proposal towards a Better Understanding of Ps 82

The purpose of this article is twofold: 1) to attempt to demonstrate deliberate poetic ambiguity in Ps 82, and 2) to show that deliberate poetic ambiguity in Ps 82, if it exists, is not simply an expression of the poet’s artistic creativity, but conveys also the theological message of the psalm. The following steps are undertaken to meet this purpose: 1) briefly look at the main interpretations of the psalm, 2) discuss the literary technique of poetic ambiguity in the Psalms, 3) discern possible poetic ambiguity in the psalm, and 4) understand Ps 82 theologically in the light of deliberate poetic ambiguity