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Deuteronomy 32:43 — What Changed in the Bible Text

Manuscript variant · documented

What the source readsthe longer ending of the Song of Moses — 'Rejoice, O heavens… let all the sons of God worship him' (the Septuagint and a Dead Sea scroll; quoted at Hebrews 1:6)

What this version readsthe shorter ending — 'Rejoice, O nations, with his people'; the heavens and the divine sons are gone (the Masoretic)

The Song of Moses closes long in the Greek and in a Qumran scroll (4QDeut): the heavens rejoice and 'the sons of God' bow down — the same divine-council world the Masoretic trims at 32:8. The Hebrew here keeps only the short form. The New Testament quotes the longer line (Hebrews 1:6, 'let all God's angels worship him'). Which reading is original is debated; that the traditions differ is not.

Read this chapter side by side — Deuteronomy 32:43 →

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