Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy 32 says the nations were divided by the number of Israel, but the Greek Septuagint reads “angels of God,” reflecting an earlier version that says “sons of God.” This follows an ancient Near Eastern tradition where each was given a patron god.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 32:8
Hebrew Bible
6 Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish, unwise people? Is he not your father, your Creator? He has made you and established you. 7 Remember the ancient days; bear in mind the years of past generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly. 9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession. 10 The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Deuteronomy 32:8
Septuagint
6 Do you thus repay the Lord? is the people thus foolish and unwise? did not he himself your father purchase you, and make you, and form you? 7 Remember the days of old, consider the years for past ages: ask your father, and he shall relate to you, your elders, and they shall tell you. 8 When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. 9 And his people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel was the line of his inheritance. 10 He maintained him in the wilderness, in burning thirst and a dry land: he led him about and instructed him, and kept him as the apple of an eye.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Here the [Samaritan Pentateuch] consonantal text is identical to that of the [Masoretic Text]. However, at the end of the verse the LXX reads: κατὰ ἀριθµὸν ἀγγέλων θεοῦ (according to the number of the angels of God) and 4QDeut reads: בני אלוהים (the sons of God). The Table of Nations of Genesis 10, descendants of Noah’s sons who were spread out over the earth after the flood, lists seventy different nations. Barthélemy shows how the number seventy was also familiar as the number of gods in the Ugaritic pantheon. These were the sons of the deity Asherah and each was given to be the deity of a particular nation. The reading בני אלוהים, found in 4QDeut (4Q37), seems to link Genesis 10 to this polytheistic world view, and the LXX supports this reading. Were this the original, it is understandable why monotheistic scribes thought it necessary to modify the Hebrew text ..."
Philip Mark Reid, “A Preliminary Investigation into the Samaritan Pentateuch as an Intralingual Translation” (MA diss., University of the Free State, 2021), 89–90.
* 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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