The Beni Elohim (בני אלהים, “Sons of God” or “Children of the Elohim”) are a choir of angels in Briah, the second of the four Qabalistic worlds, associated with the sephirah Hod. The name derives from Hebrew, where Beni means “sons” or “children” and Elohim is a plural form for God, often understood as the creative powers or divine judges. In angelology, the Beni Elohim are the intelligences that govern the sphere of Splendor, reflecting the intellectual and analytical energies of Hod.

Position on the Tree of Life

The Beni Elohim are assigned to the eighth sephirah, Hod (Glory or Splendor), which lies on the Pillar of Severity. Hod is the sphere of intellect, communication, and the formal structures of thought—corresponding to Mercury in the macrocosm. As the choir of Hod, the Beni Elohim embody the logical, ordering, and analytical aspects of divine intelligence, serving as the angels who transmit the patterns of form and number into the lower worlds.

Historical context

The phrase “Beni Elohim” appears in the Hebrew Bible, most notably in Genesis 6:2, where they are described as beings who took human wives, and in Job 1:6 and 2:1, where they present themselves before the Lord. In the Qabalah, these figures were systematized as a specific angelic order by medieval Jewish mystics, particularly in the Zohar and later in the works of Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria. The Zohar (e.g., Bereshit 1a) identifies the Beni Elohim as a rank of angels that emanate from the sephirah Hod, acting as the “sons” of the Elohim—the creative forces of Binah and Chokmah. In the Hermetic Qabalah of the Golden Dawn, the Beni Elohim are listed in the 777 correspondences as the choir of angels in Briah for Hod, where they are associated with the astrological influence of Mercury and the divine name Elohim Tzabaoth (God of Hosts). Their role is to mediate the intellectual splendor of Hod, shaping the raw energy of the sephirah into communicable forms.

In the table of Liber 777, the Beni Elohim appear at step 8 (Hod) in the column “Choirs of Angels in Briah.” They stand between the Malakim (Netzach) and the Ishim (Yesod), completing the sequence of angelic orders that descend from Keter to Malkuth. Their placement underscores the function of Hod as the sphere of rational structure, where the Beni Elohim serve as the architects of divine thought, translating the ineffable into the ordered language of creation.