Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Gary Hedrick" <garyh AT cjfm.org>]

I hope it’s still okay to ask questions about the Hebrew text of the Bible on 
this list.

 

Hebrews 1:6 in the NT quotes the OT as saying, “And let all the angels of GOD 
worship him.” The problem is that there’s nothing like this in the Hebrew 
Bible—at least, none that I’ve been able to find. Someone with a skeptical 
mindset might wonder if the author of Hebrews simply made up the quotation 
because it sounded “biblical” and buttressed his argument.

 

But wait a minute, not so fast. The LXX adds the phrase in Deut. 32:43 about 
the angels of GOD (lit., “sons of GOD”) worshiping him (apologies in advance 
if the Greek font below doesn’t work in some browsers):

εὐφράνθητε οὐρανοί ἅμα αὐτῷ καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες υἱοὶ θεοῦ 
εὐφράνθητε ἔθνη μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐνισχυσάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι 
θεοῦ ὅτι τὸ αἷμα τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ ἐκδικᾶται καὶ ἐκδικήσει καὶ ἀνταποδώσει δίκην 
τοῖς ἐχθροῖς καὶ τοῖς μισοῦσιν ἀνταποδώσει καὶ ἐκκαθαριεῖ κύριος τὴν γῆν τοῦ 
λαοῦ αὐτοῦ 

 

Also, I understand that 1Q287 (a DSS fragment) preserves the phrase in the 
Hebrew text of the same passage (although I haven’t been able to find a copy 
online).

 

This presents an interesting situation. Is it possible that the NT actually 
preserves an older reading of this passage in the Hebrew text than the MT? I 
realize this also relates to TC, but I thought our b-hebrew listers might 
also have some relevant insights.

 

Gary Hedrick

San Antonio, TX