Texts in Conversation
The Greek Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 32 includes references to heavenly beings joining in praise, which is not found in the Hebrew Masoretic text. The Septuagint version matches Job 38, where “sons of God” also celebrate God's acts.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Job 38:7
Hebrew Bible
5 Who set its measurements—if you know—or who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its bases set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 when the morning stars sang in chorus, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 “Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst forth, coming out of the womb, 9 when I made the storm clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,
Date: 500–401 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Deuteronomy 32:43
Septuagint
41 For I will sharpen my sword like lightning, and my hand shall take hold of judgment; and I will render judgment to my enemies, and will repay those who hate me. 42 I will make my weapons drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, it shall glut itself with the blood of the wounded, and from the captivity of the heads of their enemies that rule over them. 43 Rejoice, you heavens, with him, and let all the sons of God worship him; rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people, and let all the angels of God strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will render vengeance, and repay justly his enemies, and will reward those who hate him; and the Lord shall purge the land of his people.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... perhaps even more damaging to the proposed parablepsis explanation that an original 'sons of Israel' was unintentionally corrupted to 'sons of God' in Deuteronomy 32:8, is that there exists another text-critical problem in Deuteronomy 32 in which divine beings - are the focus (verse 43) Deuteronomy 32:43 reads differently in the MT, the LXX, and a Qumran text. Tigay has the three texts laid out in parallel in his commentary on Deuteronomy ... Tigay asserts that the Masoretic text here is demonstrably incomplete when the structure of the text is analyzed and the resulting minuses are assessed. It is significant that the MT lacks a parallel colon in what should be the first pairing (or double pairing if one follows the LXX). Even more striking is the fact that this missing colon is the one in which reference is made to divine beings in the Qumran and LXX texts. In the Qumran and LXX texts, every colon has its partner. This argues strongly that the MT originally had a pairing of colons (a bicolon), a pairing that was deliberately eliminated to avoid the reference to other 'divine beings' ..."
Michael S. Hesier, “Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God,” BSac 158 (2001): 52–74.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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