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4Q37

4QDeuteronomy

About this book

Column 12

12 Consider [the years of generation after generation. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will say to you.] 13 When [the Most High] gave [the nations] their inheritance,⁠ [when he divided the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the peoples by the number of] 14 the sons of God […]

Texts in conversation

Sons of God in the Dead Sea Scrolls Version of Deuteronomy 32

Hebrew Bible · Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Manuscripts

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Summary

Deuteronomy 32 describes the nations divided, with the Masoretic text saying it's based on the “sons of Israel,” and the Dead Sea Scrolls preserve an earlier form, “sons of God,” referring to the ancient Near Eastern tradition of patron deities.
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Passages

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.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

4Q37 12:13

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Manuscripts · 4QDeuteronomy
12 Consider [the years of generation after generation. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will say to you.] 13 When [the Most High] gave [the nations] their inheritance, [when he divided the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the peoples by the number of] 14 the sons of God […]
160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q37

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 אלהים (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 אלהים, 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.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Comments

  • Source on the DSS is incorrect?

    Folkers, April 29, 2025

Deuteronomy 32:8 and 4Q37 12:13

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