Deuteronomy 32:8
New International Version
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.

New Living Translation
When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court.

English Standard Version
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

Berean Standard Bible
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

King James Bible
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

New King James Version
When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.

New American Standard Bible
“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of mankind, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.

NASB 1995
“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.

NASB 1977
“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.

Legacy Standard Bible
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.

Amplified Bible
“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.

Christian Standard Bible
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance and divided the human race, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the people of Israel.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance and divided the human race, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the people of Israel.

American Standard Version
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
When The Highest divides the nations and when He separates the children of men, He sets the borders of the nations to the number of the sons of Israel.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.

Contemporary English Version
that God Most High gave land to every nation. He assigned a guardian angel to each of them,

Douay-Rheims Bible
When the Most High divided the nations: when he separated the sons of Adam, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number of the children of Israel.

English Revised Version
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
When the Most High gave nations their land, when he divided the descendants of Adam, he set up borders for the tribes corresponding to the number of the sons of Israel.

Good News Translation
The Most High assigned nations their lands; he determined where peoples should live. He assigned to each nation a heavenly being,

International Standard Version
When the Most High gave nations as their inheritance, when he separated the human race, he set boundaries for the people according to the number of the children of God.

JPS Tanakh 1917
When the Most High gave to the nations When He separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.

Literal Standard Version
In the Most High causing nations to inherit, | In His separating sons of Adam—He sets up the borders of the peoples | By the number of the sons of God [[or sons of Israel]].

Majority Standard Bible
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

New American Bible
When the Most High allotted each nation its heritage, when he separated out human beings, He set up the boundaries of the peoples after the number of the divine beings;

NET Bible
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly.

New Revised Standard Version
When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods;

New Heart English Bible
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided humankind, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of God.

Webster's Bible Translation
When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

World English Bible
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.

Young's Literal Translation
In the Most High causing nations to inherit, In His separating sons of Adam -- He setteth up the borders of the peoples By the number of the sons of Israel.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Song of Moses
7Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you. 8When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. 9But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.…

Cross References
Acts 17:26
From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

Numbers 23:9
For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, not reckoning themselves among the nations.

Deuteronomy 33:28
So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.

Psalm 74:17
You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.

Micah 2:5
Therefore, you will have no one in the assembly of the LORD to divide the land by lot.


Treasury of Scripture

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

Most

Numbers 24:16
He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

Psalm 7:17
I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.

Psalm 50:14
Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

divided

Genesis 10:25
And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.

Genesis 11:9
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Psalm 115:16
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

he set

Genesis 10:15
And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,

Genesis 15:18-21
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: …

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Adam Borders Boundaries Bounds Causing Children Divided Heritage High Inherit Inheritance Israel Keeping Limits Mankind Marked Mind Nations Peoples Separated Separating
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Adam Borders Boundaries Bounds Causing Children Divided Heritage High Inherit Inheritance Israel Keeping Limits Mankind Marked Mind Nations Peoples Separated Separating
Deuteronomy 32
1. Moses' song, which sets forth God's mercy and vengeance
46. He exhorts them to set their hearts upon it
48. God sends him up to mount Nebo to see the land, and to die














(8, 9) Comp. Deuteronomy 21:16.

"when the Most High made nations to inherit,

When He parted the sons of Adam,

He set the bounds of the peoples,

According to the number of the sons of Israel.

For the portion of Jehovah is His people,

Jacob the cord [7] of His inheritance"

[7] i.e., limit.

The allusion is to the dispersion from Babel (Genesis 10, 11). The Jews were accustomed to reckon seventy nations and languages in that dispersion. Seventy members of Jacob's household went down into Egypt. And literally they interpret this passage to mean that in dividing the lands to the peoples, Jehovah left room for His own, so that they might inherit the promised land without any undue pressure upon other nations. It is noticeable that the children of Lot and Esau were carefully preserved from disturbance by Israel (Deuteronomy 2). But this is the bare literal interpretation. The true meaning of the passage is given by St. Paul in his speech at Athens: "He determined (for all nations) times before appointed, and the setting of the boundaries of their habitation, that they might seek the Lord." The nations were so disposed in the world, and so developed, that each might have its opportunity of seeking Jehovah, in due season, through contact with His people--"if, as was certainly not impossible, they might feel after Him and find Him, who is not far from any one of us. For we are even His offspring." Hence He appoints our inheritance. With some such thought as this, the LXX. translate the latter half of Deuteronomy 32:8, "He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the angels of God" The chosen people were to be His messengers to the nations. He chose Israel for His own portion, that through them He might inherit the world. And yet in the face of this glorious calling and mission, the undutiful behaviour of Israel was their one great blot. They had only to accept the position already prepared for them, and they refused! . . .

Verses 8, 9. - From the very beginning, when God first allotted to the nations a place and a heritage, he had respect in his arrangements to the sons of Israel, who were his portion, and had as it were kept their interest in view in all that he appointed and ordered. According to the number of the children of Israel. When the Most High portioned out to the nations the heritage of each, he reserved for Israel, as the people of his choice, an inheritance proportioned to its numbers. The LXX. has "according to the number of the angels of God," an arbitrary departure from the original text, in accommodation, probably, to the later Jewish notion of each nation having its guardian angel. The Lord's portion is his people (cf. Exodus 15:16; Exodus 19:5; 1 Samuel 10:1; Psalm 78:71). The lot of his inheritance; literally, the cord, etc., the allusion being to the measuring of land by a cord, equivalent to the portion by measure which Jehovah allotted to himself as his inheritance (cf. Psalm 16:6).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
When the Most High
עֶלְיוֹן֙ (‘el·yō·wn)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 5945: An elevation, lofty, as title, the Supreme

gave the nations
גּוֹיִ֔ם (gō·w·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1471: A foreign nation, a Gentile, a troop of animals, a flight of locusts

their inheritance,
בְּהַנְחֵ֤ל (bə·han·ḥêl)
Preposition-b | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct
Strong's 5157: To inherit, to occupy, to bequeath, distribute, instate

when He divided
בְּהַפְרִיד֖וֹ (bə·hap̄·rî·ḏōw)
Preposition-b | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6504: To break through, spread, separate

the sons
בְּנֵ֣י (bə·nê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son

of man,
אָדָ֑ם (’ā·ḏām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 120: Ruddy, a human being

He set
יַצֵּב֙ (yaṣ·ṣêḇ)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect Jussive - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5324: To take one's stand, stand

the boundaries
גְּבֻלֹ֣ת (gə·ḇu·lōṯ)
Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 1367: A boundary, region

of the peoples
עַמִּ֔ים (‘am·mîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

according to the number
לְמִסְפַּ֖ר (lə·mis·par)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4557: A number, definite, indefinite, narration

of the sons
בְּנֵ֥י (bə·nê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son

of God.
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc


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