Deuteronomy
32:43
v 43 Smr V S T (exeg) | differ-txt 4QDeutq | differ-txt
G (exeg) ●
v 43 There are significant variations in the textual traditions for
this verse, as attested by M (four cola), 4QDeutq (six cola), and G
(eight cola). Some scholars argue for a primary text with four cola (Bogaert,
“Les trois rédactions,” 329–40), and others for a six cola text (cf. Meyer,
“Die Bedeutung,” Labuschagne, “The Song,” and van der Kooij, “The Ending”). There
is general agreement however on two points: (a) the variant readings of Qumran
(with the support of G) attest an earlier version of v. 43, and (b) G
represents—in the third and fourth of its eight cola—an expanded and
contaminated text, partly based on the proto-Masoretic form of v. 43. Following
van der Kooij’s analysis (“The Ending,” 93–100), a plausible case can be made
for an original six-cola text as reflected in 4QDeutq as follows:
1. The first colon would have
read: הרנינו שמים עִמּוֹ,
“Rejoice, you heavens, with him (= God).” This is supported by 4QDeutq,
and G’s first colon.
2. The second colon would have
read: והשתחוו לו כל אלהים,
“And bow down to him, all (you) gods.” This is supported by 4QDeutq,
and G’s first version of colon 2 (but with a refinement to “sons of God.”). It is absent from M.
3. The third colon would have
read: כי דם בניו יקום, “For he will avenge
the blood of his sons.” This is supported by 4QDeutq and G’s colon
5, and is identical with M apart from the latter’s reading of עבדיו for בניו.
4. The fourth colon of 4QDeutq,
ונקם ישיב לצריו, “And he will render
vengeance to his adversaries,” is identical with M’s third colon, and is
supported by G’s colon 6.
5. The fifth colon of 4QDeutq,
ולמשנאיו ישלם, “And those who hate
him he will requite,” is absent from M, but supported by G’s colon 7.
6. The sixth colon of 4QDeutq,
ויכפר אדמת עמו, “And he will cleanse
the land of his people,” corresponds broadly to M’s fourth colon, with some
minor differences, and is also supported by G’s colon 8, with the addition of κύριος as the explicit subject. For
more detailed comment on individual variants within the verse, see further
below.
גוֹיִם֙ Smr εβρʼ V S
T (exeg) | שמים 4QDeutq G
|| pref שָׁמַיִם 4QDeutq
G ●
גוֹיִם֙ The reading of 4QDeutq (הרנינו שמים עמו) is fully supported by G’s first version
of the first colon (εὐφράνθητε,
οὐρανοί, ἅμα αὐτῷ). Reflecting a process of
demythologization (cf. Meyer, “Die Bedeutung,” 205), M’s text for its first
colon would have been emended to read הרנינו גוים עַמּוֹ
(“Rejoice, you nations, about his people”), the personalized “heavens” of
4QDeutq being changed into a nationalist statement.
עַמּ֔וֹ Smr εβρʼ V S
T (exeg) | עמו 4QDeutq G
(exeg) || pref עִמּוֹ 4QDeutq
G ○ עַמּ֔וֹ Smr εβρʼ V S
T (exeg) | foll והשתחוו לו כל אלהים
4QDeutq (G) || pref foll וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לוֹ כָּל־אֱלֹהִים 4QDeutq
(G) ●
עַמּ֔וֹ Note that the second G version of its first colon (= colon 3 in
G), while supporting M (εὐφράνθητε,
ἔθνη, μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ), also contains either a play on the
word עמו, or an additional
conflation (μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ). This
second G version of its first colon is cited in Rom 15:10. That 4QDeutq
would have read עִמּוֹ (rather than עַמּוֹ) may be deduced from the wider phrase in
which it occurs (הרנינו שמים עמו), when read in light
of G’s first colon (εὐφράνθητε,
οὐρανοί, ἅμα αὐτῷ).
עַמּ֔וֹ The second colon, absent from M most likely for theological
reasons, is fully supported by 4QDeutq: והשתחוו לו כל אלהים, and by G’s first version of the second
colon, apart from its theologically motivated expansion: “sons of God” (καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες υἱοὶ θεοῦ). In G’s
second version (G’s fourth colon) these “sons of God” are further downgraded to
“angels of God,” and cited thus by
Heb 1:6 (mss. F and V also attest this reading for G’s first colon). Barthélemy
(unpublished notes on Deuteronomy) suggests that Ps 97:7 (השתחוו־לו כל־אלהים) mirrors and possibly even depends on the
second colon as attested in 4QDeutq (rather than the inverse), while
lacking the initial cj.
עֲבָדָ֖יו Smr V S T (exeg) | בניו 4QDeutq G
|| pref בָּנָיו 4QDeutq
G ●
עֲבָדָ֖יו The change from בניו to עבדיו in M’s second colon (= Qumran’s third colon, G’s fifth colon)
may have come about as a consequence of the change from עִמּוֹ to עַמּוֹ in the first colon
(see also v. 36, where these two words occur in parallelism). Note that TONF
has expanded the word to “his righteous servants” (עבדוהי צדיקיא).
לְצָרָ֔יו Smr (V) S (TN) TOJF (exeg) | foll ולמשנאיו ישלם 4QDeutq G
|| pref לְְצָרָיו וְלִמְשַׂנְאָיו יְשַׁלֵּם
4QDeutq G ●
לְצָרָ֔יו The fifth colon, which follows לצריו in 4QDeutq (= G’s seventh colon), was possibly
omitted in M as a consequence of the loss of colon 2 above, so as to preserve
an even number of lines. That M’s loss of two cola in v. 43 may have been also
due to a shortening of the final verse of the Song so as to reach a total of
140 cola (= seventy lines = seventy sons of Israel) should not be ruled out
(cf. van der Kooij, “The Ending,” 100; McCarthy, “Masoretic Undertones,”
40–41). Regarding G’s non-rendering of 3 m. sg. possessive pronouns to both
substantives, see 3:27 עֵינֶיךָ.
TN features a 2 pl. sfx (לבעלי דבביכון).
וְכִפֶּ֥ר Smr αʼ εβρʼ V S T | ויכפר 4QDeutq (modern) | foll κύριος G (explic) ●
וְכִפֶּ֥ר The particular form of the Qumran reading here most likely
reflects a linguistic adaptation to later post-bibl. hebr. usage of which
examples are known from 1QIsaa (cf. van der Kooij, “The Ending,”
97), in which an impf. + ו in the scrolls would
have the same value as a pf. + ו consecutive in M (cf.
Kutscher, The Language, 357f.).
אַדְמָת֖וֹ עַמּֽוֹ׃ εβρʼ | אדמת עמו Smr 4QDeutq G V TSmr | ܥܠ ܐܪܥܗ ܘܥܠ ܥܡܗ
S T (exeg) || pref אַדְמַת עַמּוֹ Smr 4QDeutq
G V ●
אַדְמָת֖וֹ עַמּֽוֹ׃ M’s form of the text (אדמתו עמו: “his land, his people”) is attested fully only by εβρʼ, and expanded with a linking
cj. by S and T. (Carmel McCarthy, Deuteronomy: Critical Apparatus
and Notes, quinta editione [Biblica Hebraica Quinta 5; Stuttgart: Deutsche
Bibelgesellschaft, 2007], 97-98)
