Psalm 82 in John 10:34-39--Angelic Elohim?
Another interpretation avoids the blandness of this [the θεοι/gods being human judges] approach by referring to the way Psalm 82 is used in Qumran. Emerton drew attention to 11QMelch, where the elohim ("gods") among whom God takes his place in council and holds judgement (82:1), whom he rebukes (82:2-5), and whom he addresses with the words, "You are gods, sons of the most high all of you; nevertheless you shall die like men and fall like any human prince" (82:6-7), are heavenly beings, angels. This is also better OT exegesis of the original. For in 11QMelch Melchisedek assumes God's role as judge in the heavenly council. The original psalm uses the word elohim, which can mean either God, gods or angels, to refer to beings other than God (ii 9). The LXX translates: θεοι. Jesus' argument would then be as follows: if it was valid to address these heavenly beings as "gods" or "sons of God," is it not all the more valid for the one God sanctified and sent into the world, to be so addressed? The use of θεος here would be similar to its use of the Logos in the prologue and would not have the effect of watering down the concept of sonship to the same degree presupposed in the more common interpretation [that holds that the gods are human judges] . . . On balance, [this] interpretation coheres better with the context and the Christology of the Gospel as a whole. (William Loader, Jesus in John's Gospel: Structure and Issues in Johannine Christology [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2017], 342-43; comments in square brackets added for clarification are mine)
