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Deuteronomy 32:8 — What Changed in the Bible Text

Manuscript variant · disputed · Divine Council

What the source readsaccording to the number of the sons of God / the angels (Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint)

What this version readsaccording to the number of the sons of Israel (Masoretic Hebrew; followed by the Vulgate, iuxta numerum filiorum Israel)

The older reading points to a divine council — the nations parcelled out among heavenly beings; the Masoretic reads 'Israel', smoothing the theology. Two ancient lines converge against it: the Qumran scrolls preserve 'sons of God', and the Septuagint — with the early Coptic made from it — reads 'angels of God'. A loaded manuscript variant.

Read this chapter side by side — Deuteronomy 32:8 →

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