Translation choice · documented · Divine Council
What the source reads — chalaq — the LORD 'allotted' the sun, moon, stars and host of heaven to all the peoples (Hebrew; the KJV 'divided', the Riveduta 'assigned as their heritage') — the twin of Deut 32:8: other nations given the heavenly host
What this version reads — 'creavit … in ministerium' — the Vulgate reads God 'created them for the service of all nations', turning an allotment of gods into created servants (so too Martini, 'create … in servigio di tutte le genti')
The Hebrew says the LORD 'allotted' the host of heaven to the other nations — the same divine-council theology as Deuteronomy 32:8, where each people is handed its own heavenly beings. The KJV keeps 'divided unto all nations', the Riveduta 'assigned as their heritage'. The Vulgate instead reads that God 'created them for the service of all nations', recasting a gift of gods as a set of created servants and defusing the polytheism; Martini's Italian follows it. The allotment survives in the Hebrew, the Protestant lines and the Samaritan Torah; the Latin alone quietly neutralizes it.
Read this chapter side by side — Deuteronomy 4:19 →