Deuteronomy 32:8, sons of God, or sons of Israel?
Deuteronomy 32:8 is represented with both sons of God and sons of Israel in the supplied witnesses. The APB prints sons of Israel; the alternative links the nations with divine beings.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
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. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“The base text reads בני ישראל. The copies also carry בני אלהים / בני אל [hebrew manuscript attestation; ancient greek version; early hebrew scroll]; the committee kept the base text. The early Greek and Hebrew witnesses for בני אלהים / בני אל are chronologically earlier than the single medieval witness for בני ישראל, yet the internal evidence favors בני ישראל as the reading that best accounts for the rise of בני אלהים / בני אל.”
The APB 3.5 decision keeps בני ישראל as the base text. Its note states: > The base text reads בני ישראל. The note also records בני אלהים / בני אל in Hebrew and Greek witnesses and says that internal evidence favors the base reading. The committee's printed translation reads according to the number of the sons of Israel. No rationale note matches this crux, and the pericope audit verdict is clean.
The argument for each reading
If “sons of God”
Reading A, בני אלוהים, is supported by 4QDeutʲ, a manuscript c. 1st century B.C. identified as a Qumran fragment of the Song of Moses. The Septuagint, a translation c. 3rd century B.C., reads ἀγγέλων θεοῦ. The packet also reports that a few Greek manuscripts read sons of God, while most read angels of God; both Greek forms are said to presuppose a Hebrew text unlike the MT. On this reading, the line about establishing the borders of peoples is measured by reference to divine beings. The resulting picture is that the nations are allotted under divine beings, rather than being counted against Jacob's family.
If “sons of Israel”
Reading B, בני ישראל, is the reading of the Masoretic Text, represented here by the Westminster Leningrad Codex, codex A.D. 1008, with a tradition centuries older. It is also the received Hebrew reading translated by the APB. The supplied consonantal verse ends with למספר בני ישראל, and the committee's printed text translates the phrase as according to the number of the sons of Israel. In the immediate printed sequence, the following verse says that Jacob is the LORD's allotted inheritance. This reading therefore makes Israel's family the stated measure for the peoples' borders, placing the line alongside the reference to Jacob that follows.
The supplied evidence preserves two different ways of stating the measure for the nations' borders: divine beings or Israel's family. The packet identifies earlier Greek and Hebrew witnesses for the former form and the received Hebrew reading behind the APB for the latter. This variant changes that line's immediate imagery and framing. It does not by itself settle doctrine; doctrines ordinarily rest on many passages.
Common questions
Does Deuteronomy 32:8 say sons of God or sons of Israel?
The supplied witnesses contain both. 4QDeutʲ reads בני אלוהים, the Septuagint reads ἀγγέλων θεοῦ, and the Masoretic Text reads בני ישראל. The APB prints sons of Israel.
What does the Septuagint read in Deuteronomy 32:8?
The Septuagint reads ἀγγέλων θεοῦ, angels of God. The packet says most Greek manuscripts have that reading, while a few read sons of God.
Why does the wording in Deuteronomy 32:8 matter?
One word changes whether the nations are described in relation to divine beings or to Jacob's family. The following APB verse calls Jacob the LORD's allotted inheritance.
Related entries
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. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.