Deuteronomy 32:17

Hebrew Bible

15 But Jeshurun became fat and kicked; you got fat, thick, and stuffed! Then he deserted the God who made him, and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt. 16 They made him jealous with other gods, they enraged him with abhorrent idols. 17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors had not known about. 18 You forgot the Rock who fathered you, and put out of mind the God who gave you birth.

LXX Deuteronomy 32:17

Septuagint

15 And Iakob ate and was filled, and the beloved one kicked. He grew fat; he became heavy; he became broad! And he abandoned God who made him, and he departed from God his savior. 16 They provoked me with foreign things; by their abominations they embittered me. 17 They sacrificed to demons and not to God, to gods they did not know. New, recent ones have come, whom their fathers did not know. 18 You abandoned God who bore you, and you forgot God who nurtures you.

 Notes and References

"... As we delve deeper, it becomes evident that the interpretation of LXX daimones is primarily achieved through the establishment and application of a pattern of lexical equivalence of δαιμόνιον for דש. This equivalence is first established in LXX Deuteronomy 32:17 and is subsequently followed at least once in the Greek Psalter (105[106]:37; compare 90[91]:6). Moreover, in the Greek Psalter and LXX Isaiah, δαιμόνιον is utilized in the same context and function as in LXX Deuteronomy 32:17—specifically, as a term of distinction that contrasts the God of Israel with all other entities or objects of sacrificial worship (i.e., LXX Psalm 95[96]:3–5; LXX Isaiah 65:3; compare 1 Enoch 19:2). Some instances of δαιμόνιον usage in the Greek Psalter, in particular, echo the concern for Jewish/Gentile difference in Jubilees’ treatment of transmundane powers. However, what remains less clear is whether and how the LXX usage serves to demonize daimones in a categorical sense akin to later Christian notions of demons as inherently evil ..."

Reed, Annette Yoshiko When did Daimones become Demons? Revisiting Septuagintal Data for Ancient Jewish Demonology (pp. 340-375) Harvard Theological Review, 116(3), 2023

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