The Assyrian and Hebrew Hymns of Praise

by Charles Gordon Cumming

and in Psalm 82:6, although it is not said that Yahwe creates or begets the gods, yet it seems to be his fiat, his decree that calls them into being:

I said, gods shall ye be

And sons of the Most High all of you.

It is also his decree that destroys them:

Nevertheless as men shall ye die,

And as one of the princes shall ye fall.

It is a question of secondary importance whether the Elohim is here to be interpreted as actually gods, or judges. In either case, there is the similarity in Assyrian and Hebrew usage.

Finally the creation of mankind is ascribed to the Assyrian deity, and by this is apparently meant the creation of the entire human family:

At thy command created was mankind.

—Hymn to Bel No. 3.