Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

The textual evidence is ambiguous for the final two words in 32.8. MT has בני 
ישראל (‘sons of Israel’) while 4Q37 at Qumran reads בני אלוהים (‘sons of God’ 
or ‘sons of gods’). The LXX reads αγγελων θεου (‘angels of God’), which is 
often the way it translates ‘sons of God’. So there is good textual evidence 
that the MT is perhaps itself an interpolation rather than the original 
reading.

If that is the case and 4Q37 represents something closer to the original, 
then one can see why it is proposed that the poem originally saw Yahweh as 
one of the sons of El. Whether it’s a correct interpretation of the verse or 
not is a different matter, but it’s not an uncommon understanding.


GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au