Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

There has apparently been some confusion on some of these lists 
lately regarding the status of Deuteronomy 32:8 and its 
preservation in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The confusion seems to 
emanate from a 1956 article by P. Skehan in BASOR, in which he 
mentioned a fragment that preserves the verse.  In that article, he 
was discussing 4QDeut(q), and the wording seemed to indicate 
that this fragment included the verse.

After checking the materials again including the photos, it appears 
that Skehan was not referring to 4QDeut(q), the scroll he was 
publishing, but 4QDeut(j), which was published much later in DJD 
14.  4QDeut(q) does not have verse 8 at all.  4QDeut(j) reads BNY 
)LWHYM, a reading that may or may not support the suggestion 
by the BHS editors based on the LXX reading, BNY )L or BNY 
)LYM.  In any case, it appears that this one fragment is the only 
attestation of the verse among the DSS corpus.

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
A Bible that's falling apart means a life that isn't.