What the texts say. In the Song of Moses, the Most High divides the nations and sets their bounds. The Masoretic text ends the verse “according to the number of the sons of Israel”; the KJV has “children of Israel.” The Septuagint reads “according to the number of the angels of God.” A Hebrew scroll from Qumran, 4QDeut-j, reads bene elohim, “sons of God.” So the three main witnesses give three wordings.
The manuscript evidence. Emanuel Tov, who edited 33 volumes of the official Dead Sea Scrolls publication series, notes that almost the whole Septuagint tradition departs from the Masoretic text here, apart from manuscripts corrected toward the Hebrew. Most Greek copies say “angels of God,” while an early papyrus (848) says “sons of God,” the reading printed in the Göttingen critical edition. The Qumran scroll shows that “sons of God” was a real Hebrew reading, not a Greek invention (Very Strong).
Which is older? Many scholars judge “sons of God” to be original (Strong, though not unanimous). The reasons: it explains the other readings well; it fits verse 9, which contrasts the nations with the Lord’s own portion, Jacob; and it matches other biblical pictures of God among a heavenly assembly (Psalm 82:1; 1 Kings 22:19). Tov suggests a scribe later changed the phrase to avoid any hint of other divine beings sharing rule. The Masoretic reading, for its part, has been linked to the seventy descendants of Jacob who went down to Egypt (Genesis 46:27). The NET Bible adopts “sons of God”; it cites Michael Heiser’s 2001 study for that view.
What the Orthodox Church reads. The Orthodox Church reads the Septuagint: God divided the nations “according to the number of the angels of God,” while his people Jacob became the Lord’s portion. This fits the teaching of St John of Damascus that angels “are set over nations and regions” (Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 2.3), and the picture in Daniel of angelic “princes” of Persia and of Michael (Daniel 10:13). In Christian reading these are created angels, servants of the one God, not rival gods.
How translations handle it. The KJV, NKJV, NIV, Douay-Rheims and Reina-Valera 1909 follow the Hebrew, “sons” or “children of Israel”; the NKJV and NIV note the scroll and Greek readings. The ESV and the RSV Catholic Edition read “sons of God.” The NRSVUE reads “the gods,” with a note on the Hebrew.
What it does and does not change. Neither reading teaches polytheism. Scripture elsewhere calls angels “sons of God” (Job 1:6), and the Song itself insists there is no god beside the Lord (Deuteronomy 32:39). The reading matters for how we picture God’s rule over the nations through his angels. It does not change the confession of one God. Readers should be cautious about large theories built on this single verse.