Deuteronomy 32:43

Let All the Angels Bow

Quoted by the apostles in Hebrews 1:6, in the older Greek wording

Side by Side

The Older Text

Septuagint, translated before Messiah

Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his sons.

The Later Text

Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross

Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants. (The lines about the heavens and the angels are gone.)

Quoted in Hebrews 1:6

The apostle’s Old Testament

And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Your KJV reads: the short verse in Deuteronomy, then quotes the missing line in Hebrews.

See what changed and why ↓

What Your Bible Says

And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Hebrews 1:6 KJV

Hebrews says Scripture calls the angels to bow when the Father brings His firstborn into the world. A reader who turns back to find that line in the Old Testament comes up empty.

What the Jewish Bible Says

Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.
Deuteronomy 32:43 KJV

The heavens are gone. The angels are gone. The call to bow is gone. What is left is a verse about vengeance with no one for the heavens to worship.

What Changed

The song of Moses ends Deuteronomy 32. In the older text its last verse is twice as long. It calls heaven and the angels to bow before Him, then calls the Gentiles to rejoice with Israel. The later text keeps the Gentiles but cuts the heavenly lines.

Which One Is Right?

The Greek Bible, translated before Messiah, has the full verse.

A Hebrew scroll from the Dead Sea caves, copied before Messiah was born, has the call for the heavenly host to bow to Him. This is not a Greek addition. The line was in the Hebrew.

Hebrews 1:6 quotes it word for word from the Greek.

The Masoretic text is the only one without it.

Purpose of the Change

Hebrews used this line to show that the Father calls the angels to honor the Son He brings into the world. Remove the line from the Hebrew and the apostle seems to be quoting a verse that does not exist.

The Bottom Line

Hebrews did not invent the line. It was in the Hebrew before Messiah, and it was cut afterward.

The heavens obey in the end: “I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne … saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” (Revelation 5:11–12).

Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it

The Scroll

The scroll is a small copy of Deuteronomy found in Cave 4 near Qumran. Its Hebrew calls on the heavens to rejoice and on all the elohim to bow down to Him. The Greek translators rendered elohim here as “angels,” which is how the word is used of heavenly beings in other places (Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7). The scroll proves the Greek was translating a real Hebrew verse.

Worship Him?

Some teachers use Hebrews 1:6 to argue that the Son must be Yahuah, since the angels worship Him. The word for worship means to bow down. Scripture uses it for bowing before men as well as before Yahuah.

And all the congregation blessed Yahuah God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped Yahuah, and the king.
1 Chronicles 29:20 KJV

Israel bowed to Yahuah and to King David in the same breath, and no one thinks David was Yahuah. Messiah promised the same honor to His faithful assembly: “I will make them to come and worship before thy feet” (Revelation 3:9).

Who Gives the Order?

In Hebrews 1:6 the Father speaks and the Father brings the firstbegotten into the world. The angels bow because the Father commands it. Honor given at the Father’s command shows the Son’s rank under Him, not a second Yahuah beside Him.

Firstbegotten

Hebrews calls Him the firstbegotten. A son who is begotten has a beginning. The Father who begets has none. The same chapter says the Son was anointed by “thy God” (Hebrews 1:9).

The Gentiles Line Survived

Paul quotes the part about the nations: “Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people” (Romans 15:10). That line stayed in the Masoretic text. Only the lines about heaven bowing to Him were cut.

An Honest Note

A similar line appears in Psalm 97:7, where the Greek says “worship him, all ye his angels.” Some believe Hebrews 1:6 draws on both. The wording in Hebrews, however, matches the Greek of Deuteronomy 32:43 exactly.