Deuteronomy 32:8
When the Most High Divided the Nations
Heavenly hostThe borders of the nations were drawn by a number. The scroll and the later text disagree on whose.
Side by Side
The Older Text
Septuagint, translated before Messiah
When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.
The Later Text
Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
Your KJV reads: “children of Israel” with the Masoretic.
See what changed and why ↓What Your Bible Says
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 32:8 KJV
Moses looks back to the day the nations were scattered at Babel. In the King James, their borders were set by the number of Israel’s children. But at Babel there was no Israel. Jacob had not yet been born.
What the Older Text Says
He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.
Deuteronomy 32:8, Septuagint
In the Greek, the nations were divided by the number of Yahuah’s heavenly servants. Then the next verse makes the contrast: “For Yahuah’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:9). The nations were given overseers. Israel Yahuah kept for Himself.
What Changed
This is not a vowel or a misread letter. The oldest Hebrew copy reads “sons of God.” The later text reads “sons of Israel.” One word was swapped for another, and the meaning of the verse turned with it.
In Hebrew, “sons of God” is bene elohim. “Sons of Israel” is bene yisrael. The first word stays. The second is replaced. A verse about heaven’s servants became a verse about a nation that did not yet exist.
Which One Is Right?
The Greek Bible reads “angels of God” in most copies. One of its oldest copies, a papyrus from before Messiah, reads “sons of God,” and the standard scholarly edition of the Greek prints that reading.
A Hebrew scroll of Deuteronomy found at Qumran, copied before Messiah, reads “sons of God.” This is the Hebrew itself, not a translation.
The Masoretic text reads “children of Israel.” The Samaritan Torah reads the same. Both are later copies than the scroll.
Purpose of the Change
The likely purpose was to avoid a verse that seemed to hand the nations to heavenly powers, which later scribes feared sounded like many gods. The effect is that Scripture’s own picture, nations under heavenly princes and Israel under Yahuah alone, disappears from Deuteronomy.
The Bottom Line
The oldest Hebrew copy says the nations were divided by the number of the sons of God. The later text says Israel.
The nations were parceled out, but not forever. At the last trumpet they come home to their rightful King: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Messiah; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).
Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it
The Scroll
A small Deuteronomy scroll from Cave 4 at Qumran preserves this verse. Its Hebrew reads “sons of God.” The Greek translators, working from a Hebrew text like it, wrote “angels of God,” which is how they understood the phrase.
The Sons of God Elsewhere
Scripture calls Yahuah’s heavenly servants by this name. At creation, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). They are created. They were there to watch the earth being made.
Princes Over Nations
Daniel shows the same picture. A heavenly messenger says, “now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come” (Daniel 10:20). Israel’s prince is named: “Michael your prince” (Daniel 10:21). The nations have princes in the heavens. Deuteronomy 32:8 in the older text explains why.
Not Many Gods
The older reading does not teach many gods. The sons of God are made beings who serve the one Most High. In the same song He says, “there is no god with me” (Deuteronomy 32:39). Being called a son of God never makes anyone Yahuah. That holds for angels, for Israel, and for Messiah, whose God is His Father.
An Honest Note
The Greek copies do not all agree: most read “angels of God,” while an early papyrus and a few others read “sons of God.” Both point the same way, away from Israel. The Samaritan Torah sides with the Masoretic here, so the later reading is not found in the Masoretic alone. The scroll is partly damaged, but the words “sons of God” can be read. Many scholars who have no stake in this website now say the Masoretic reading is a later change.