Jesus answered is literally “Jesus answered them.” In Greek this verse is in the form of a rhetorical question which expects the answer “yes” (Revised Standard Version “Is it not written in your law…?”). A capital “L” is used by Good News Translation in its spelling of the word Law, for the reference is to the Jewish Scriptures. As mentioned in the preceding verse, the quotation is from Psalm 82.6, and John follows the Septuagint exactly (literally “I said, ‘You are gods’ ”). Good News Translation makes the pronoun “I” explicit as a reference to God (God said), since in the Psalm it is God who is speaking. This enables the person who reads this passage to himself, or who hears the passage read aloud, to know immediately that God is the one who said this in the Scripture. That is, since in this context Jesus is the one speaking, it may sound as if Jesus himself said this in their Law unless one introduces God in place of the pronoun “I” in the statement “I said.”

As noted elsewhere, the expression It is written in your own Law may be difficult to express in some languages. One may sometimes say “The following words are in your laws” or “These are the words written in your Law.”

You are gods: see comments at verse 33.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .