Deuteronomy 32:8 — sons of God, or sons of Israel?
Deuteronomy 32:8 is attested with בני אלוהים, sons of God, and בני ישראל, sons of Israel. One word affects whether the peoples are measured by divine beings or by Jacob’s family.
What the APB prints.
Every witness, on the record.
What a blind committee did here.
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Whatever it did at this verse, it did on the language alone — and its record is public.
The blind committee record supplies no rationale note for this crux. Its pericope audit verdict is ‘clean.’ The APB prints sons of Israel in Deuteronomy 32:8, followed by the statement that Jacob is the cord of his inheritance in Deuteronomy 32:9.
The case for each reading.
If “sons of God”
The case for בני אלוהים begins with the Dead Sea Scrolls witness 4QDeutʲ, a manuscript dated c. 1st century B.C. Its surviving text of the Song of Moses reads בני אלוהים. The Septuagint also supports this side of the variation: it reads ἀγγέλων θεοῦ, and the packet reports that a few Greek manuscripts read sons of God. Both Greek forms are described as presupposing a Hebrew text unlike the MT. On this reading, the number used when the Most High fixed the borders of the peoples is connected with divine beings. The immediate contrast in Deuteronomy 32:9 then names the LORD’s people and Jacob as his inheritance.
If “sons of Israel”
The case for בני ישראל rests on the Masoretic Text, represented here by the Westminster Leningrad Codex, codex A.D. 1008; tradition centuries older. This is the received Hebrew reading, and it is the wording translated in the APB: the Most High fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. The supplied consonantal Hebrew verse likewise ends למספר בני ישראל. Read in sequence with Deuteronomy 32:9, this wording places the count beside the statement that the LORD’s portion is his people and Jacob is his inheritance. The reading therefore describes the nations’ boundaries in relation to Israel’s family.
The packet presents a real division in the wording: one reading names divine beings, while the other names Israel. It does not provide a rationale note explaining the APB’s choice at this verse. The variant changes how the count for the peoples is expressed, but no conclusion about doctrine need hinge on this one wording; doctrines rest on many passages.
More places where the manuscripts argue.
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. Nothing on this page declares a winner — the evidence is the point.
Weigh it yourself.
The registry doesn't tell you which reading is true. It puts every witness on one page, shows what a blind committee did with the same language, and leaves the verdict where it belongs — with the reader.