by Geza Vermes
I, too, have loved Thy name, and have taken refuge in Thy shadow.
When I remember Thy power, my heart is strengthened and I rely on Thy mercies.
Forgive my sins, O Lord, and purify me of my iniquity.
Grant me a spirit of faithfulness and knowledge; let me not be dishonoured in ruin.
Let not Belial dominate me, nor an unclean spirit; let pain and the evil inclination not possess my bones.
For Thou, O Lord, art my praise, and I hope in Thee every day. My brethren rejoice with me and the house of my father is astounded by Thy graciousness.
... for ever I will rejoice in Thee.
Apostrophe to Zion
XXIII will remember you, O Zion, for a blessing;
with all my might I love you;
your memory is to be blessed for ever.
Your hope is great, O Zion;
Peace and your awaited salvation will come.
Generation after generation shall dwell in you,
and generations of the pious shall be your ornament.
They who desire the day of your salvation
shall rejoice in the greatness of your glory.
They shall be suckled on the fullness of your glory,
and in your beautiful streets they shall make tinkling sounds.
You shall remember the pious deeds of your prophets,
and shall glorify yourself in the deeds of your pious ones.
Cleanse violence from your midst;
lying and iniquity, may they be cut off from you.
Your sons shall rejoice within you,
and your cherished ones shall be joined to you.
How much they have hoped in your salvation,
and how much your perfect ones have mourned for you?
Your hope, O Zion, shall not perish,
and your expectation will not be forgotten.
Is there a just man who has perished?
Is there a man who has escaped his iniquity?
Man is tried according to his way,
each is repaid according to his deeds.
Your oppressors shall be cut off from around you, O Zion,
and all who hate you shall be dispersed.
Your praise is pleasing, O Zion;
it rises up in all the world.
Many times I will remember you for a blessing;
I will bless you with all my heart.
You shall attain to eternal righteousness,
and shall receive blessings from the noble.
Take the vision which speaks of you,
and the dreams of the prophets requested for you.
Be exalted and increase, O Zion;
Praise the Most High, your Redeemer!
May my soul rejoice in your glory!
Hymn to the Creator
XXVI The Lord is great and holy, the Most Holy for generation after generation.
Majesty goes before him, and after him abundance of many waters. Loving-kindness and truth are about his face; truth and judgement and righteousness are the pedestal of his throne.
He divides light from obscurity; he establishes the dawn by the knowledge of his heart.
When all his angels saw it, they sang, for he showed them that which they had not known.
He crowns the mountains with fruit, with good food for all the living.
Blessed be the master of the earth with his power, who establishes the world by his wisdom.
By his understanding he stretched out the heaven, and brought forth [wind] from his st[ores].
He made [lightnings for the rai]n, and raised mist from the end [of the earth].
An Account of David’s Poems
XXVII David son of Jesse was wise and brilliant like the light of the sun; (he was) a scribe, intelligent and perfect in all his ways before God and men.
YHWH gave him an intelligent and brilliant spirit, and he wrote 3,600 psalms and 364 songs to sing before the altar for the daily perpetual sacrifice, for all the days of the year; and 52 songs for the Sabbath offerings; and 30 songs for the New Moons, for Feast-days and for the Day of Atonement.
In all, the songs which he uttered were 446, and 4 songs to make music on behalf of those stricken (by evil spirits).
In all, they were 4,050.
All these he uttered through prophecy which was given him from before the Most High.
Apocryphal Psalms (II)
(4Q88)
The last four columns (VII- x) of a fragmentary Psalms manuscript from Cave 4 have preserved three apocryphal poems. The first of these (cols. vii-viii) is identical with 11Q5 XXII already presented (pp. 311-12). Of the other two, the first (col. ix) focuses on the final judgement and the second (col. x) is a hymn to Judah.
For the editio princeps, see P. W. Skehan et al., DJD, XVI, 102-6.
IX ... Congregation
and they shall praise
the name of the Lord,
for He has come to judge every action,
to remove the wicked from the earth
[so that the sons] of iniquity shall not be found.
The heavens [shall give] their dew
and there shall be no... [within] their [boundarie]s.
And the earth
shall [give] its fruit in its time
and its [prod]uct shall not fail.
The fruit trees [shall] ... of its vineyards
and its ... shall not lie.
The poor shall eat
and the God-fearers shall be sated.
X ...
Then heaven and earth shall exult together.
Let all the stars of the evening twilight exult.
Rejoice, Judah, rejoice!
Rejoice, rejoice and be glad with gladness!
Celebrate your feasts and pay your vows
for there is no Belial in your midst.
Raise your hand and fortify your right hand!
Behold the enemy shall perish
and all the workers of iniquity shall be dispersed.
But Thou, O Lord, art for eve[r].
Thy glory shall be for eve[r and eve]r.
[Ha]ll[eluiah].
Apocryphal Psalms (III)
(11QapPsa=11Q11)
Badly worn remains of five columns of a Scroll with apocryphal psalms, at least partly devoted to exorcism, have survived in Cave 11. Most of the columns are so poorly preserved that no continuous reading is possible. In col. I, where the name of Solomon implies that this was one of the poems attributed to him, the repeated use of the term ‘demons’ and mention of ‘healing’ suggest the genre of the composition. In col. III a ‘powerful angel’ is mentioned who seems to be charged with defeating the demon and casting it to the ‘great abyss’ and the ‘nethermost [hell]’. Col. v, 3—13 has been recognized as the canonical Psalm xci, preceded by small remains of the exorcistic poem of col. IV and followed by a liturgical formula, ‘And they shall an[swer, Amen, amen.] Selah.’ All the lacunae of col. IV have been conjecturally filled by E. Puech in a French rendering. His presentation will be reproduced here in English; it provides a possible general understanding of the text, but with no guarantee that any of the restored details is correct.
For preliminary editions, see J. P. M. van der Ploeg, ‘Un petit rouleau de psaumes apocryphes (IIQPsApa)’, in G. Jeremias et al., eds., Tradition und Glaube (K. G. Kuhn Festschrift) (Göttingen, 1971), 128-39; E. Puech, ‘Les deux derniers psaumes davidiques du rituel d’exorcisme, IIQPsApa IV 4-v 14’, in D. Dimant and U. Rappaport, eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research (Leiden, 1992), 64-89; cf. esp. pp. 68-9. For the editio princeps, see F. García Martinez et al., DJD, XXIII, 181-205.
III ...
Who [has] pe[rformed these signs] and marv[els on] the earth?
The Lord is the one [who] performed th[ese through] His [might].
He adjures all [His] a[ngels] and all the see[d of holiness] who stand
before [Him,
and makes all the hea]vens testify and the whole earth
[agai
nst those] who sinned against [all men],
and acted [wickedly] against every hu[man.
And] they know [the mysteries of] His m[arvels] which they do not...
[and they fear] the Lord... to kill...
... the Lord... the Lord...
and they will fear that great blow.
IV ...
The Lord will strike you with a [grea]t b[low] for your destruction...
and in His anger He will send against you
a mighty angel [to execute] all His decisions,
who will be [without] mercy on you... against all these,
who [will take] you [down] to the great abyss,
[and to] the nethermost [hell.]
... dark [in the gr]eat abyss... no more on the earth.
... for ever, and... by the curse of Abaddon (the bottom of hell)
...the furious anger of the L[ord]....
V...
[Ra]phael healed them. Amen, amen. Selah.
Of David ... [an incan]tation in the name of the Lor[d.
Call an]y time on heav[en],
for He will come to you in the ni[ght,
and] you will say to Him:
Who are you, [one born of] man
And of the seed of the ho[ly on]es?
Your face is a face of in[anity]
And your horns are horns of dream.
You are darkness and not light,
Injustice and not righteousness.
The Prince of the host, the Lord,
[will send] you [down to the lowest he]ll,
[and will close the ga]tes of bronze
through [which n]o light [passes]
and [the] sun wh[ich rises on the] righteous
[will] not [enlighten you] ...
And you will say...
VI ...
To David. O[n words of incanta]tion. [Cry out al]l the time in the name
of the Lor[d]
towards heave[n when] Beli[al] comes to you.
[And sa]y to him:
Who are you? [Be afraid of] man and of the seed of the ho[ly ones].
Your face is a face of [nothin]g and your horns are horns of dr[eam].
[You ar]e [d]arkness and not light; [injustic]e and not righteousness.
[The prin]ce of the h[os]t [is against you]; the Lord [will cast] you [to]
the nethermost [hell],
[closed by] bronze ga[tes] through [which n]o light [shall pass];
nor [shall shine there the light of the] sun which [will rise] over the
righteous to il[lumine his face.
And] you will say:
Is [there not an angel with the ri]ghteous when [judgement] comes [for]
S[atan for] he caused him evil?
[And the spirit of t]ruth [will save him] from dar[kness because
right]eousness is for him.
... for ever [all the] son of Bel[ial. Amen, amen.] Selah.
Non-canonical Psalms
(4Q380-81)
Two poorly preserved manuscripts, the first consisting of seven and the second of 110 fragments, contain apocryphal Hebrew religious poetry resembling biblical Psalms more than the Hodayot (1QH) from Qumran. Some of them reuse and combine canonical Psalms (e.g. fr. 15 re-employing Pss. lxxxvi and lxxxix, and fr. 24, Ps. xviii). Not one single line has survived intact and only a few of these largely mediocre poems can be translated. Their editor, Eileen Schuller, assigns the collection to the Persian-Hellenistic era and considers it to be a pre-sectarian composition. Palaeographically the manuscript is dated to the first half of the first century BCE. No historical allusions are included. Like many of the biblical Psalms, these poems bore titles, three of which have been preserved: ‘Psalm of Obadiah’ (4Q380 1 11, 8); ‘Hymn of the Man of God’ (4Q381 24, 4) and ‘Prayer of Manasseh, King of Judah when the King of Assyria imprisoned him’ (4Q381 33, 8). The attributions are no doubt pseudepigraphic. Whether Obadiah is the minor prophet or the court official mentioned in 1 Kings xviii, 3 cannot be decided.
For the editio princeps, see Eileen Schuller, DJD, XI, 75-172.
4Q380, fr. 1
I ... [Jeru]salem, that is [the city
chosen by the L]ord from everlasting to [everlasting.]
... the holy ones
[for the na]me of the Lord is called on her,
[and his glory] is seen on Jerusalem and Zion.
Who will utter the name of the Lord,
and who makes all his praises heard?
The Lord [remem]bered him in his favour
and visited him
that he might show him the prosperity [of] his [cho]sen ones,
making him re[joice in the gladness of his nation]
(cf. Ps. cvi, 2,4-5).
II [And] he made for you a man w[ho ... ]
for he is the one [whose] words they kept
which are for all the sons of Israel...
... your hand will [not] save you,
for the strength of [your] God does good.
And those (filled with) wicked hatred,
how long will you delight to do evil? ...
vacat
Psalm of Obadiah.
God... truth is in it, and his loving kindness ...
Fr. 2
... mountains and hills...
All who are founded on it will shake...
[and they will cry to] the Lord in their distress.
From their oppression
He will deliver them,
For the Lord is gracious to the pious...
To the man...
4Q381, fr. I
... [his wisdom] I have declared,
and I will meditate on his marvel,
and it will become my teacher.
Judgement... of my mouth,
and to the simple and they will understand,
and to the senseless and they will know.
O Lord, how mi[ghty] ... marvels
He made heaven and earth in his days (?),
and by his word ... the riverbeds
He...
night and st[a]rs and constellations...
and He caused them to shine ...
[every] tree and every fru[it of the vineyar]d
and every produce of the field.
And according to his words... all...
m[ankind] and by his spirit he established them
to have dominion over all this,
over the ground and all [its produce(?)]
from new moon to new moon, from festival to festival,
from day to day to eat its fruit, fruit of ...
... and birds and all that belongs to them
to eat the best of everything and also...
... in them and all his hosts and His ange[ls] ...
to serve man and to minister to him...
Fr. 15
... Thou wilt turn my heart ...
[Turn to me and take pity on me;
give thy strength to Thy servant]
and save the son of Thy handmaid.
Show me [a sign of Thy favour,
that those who hate me may see and be put to shame
because Thou,] my [G]od, hast helped me (Ps. lxxxvi, 16-17)
and I will prepare (a sacrifice) for Thee, my God.
... [Thou dost rule the rag]ing of the sea;
Thou stillest its waves.
[Thou didst crush Rahab like a carcass,
Thou didst scatter Thine enemies with Thy mighty arm]
(Ps. lxxxix, 10-11).
[The world and] all that is in it, Thou hast founded them
(ibid. 12).
Thou hast a [mighty] arm; strong is Thy hand,
high Thy right hand (ibid. 14)
[For who in the skies can be compared to thee,] my God?
And who among the sons of ‘gods’
and in all [the council of the holy ones? ...
... For Thou] art the glory of its majesty.
As for me, Thine anointed one, I have understood...
[I will make] thee [kno
w]n, for Thou hast made me know;
I will have insight, for Thou hast given me insight...
For on Thy name, my God, we shall call,
and [we shall wait] for Thy salvation.
And they will put it on like a garment
and like a dress...
Fr. 17
...In splendour Thou wilt look on Judah and...
My God, Thou wilt swallow them up
And [fire] will de[vour them] ...
Fr. 24
... Psalm of the Man of God.
Lord, God ...
He has redeemed Judah from all distress
and from Ephraim...
... generation.
Those who have passed his test will praise him
and say, ‘Arise [O God’] ...
Thy name is my salvation,
my rock, my fortress and [my] refuge [is my God] (Ps. xviii, 3).
On the day of... I will call on the Lord and he will answer me,
my help... those who hate me.
And he will say,...
[My c]ry be[fore him] comes to his ears (Ps. xviii, 7)
[From his temple he will hear my] voi[ce].
[And] the earth will [re]el [and rock,
and the foundations of the mountains tremble... for he is
angry.
Smoke went up from his nostrils (Ps. xviii, 7-9) ...
Fr. 31
... in the net which they have concealed ...
I will sing to ...
I will meditate over Thy wonders
for to ... before Thee...
Thou dost save me and lift me up from the tents of death
... before all ...
All its ways come to ...
In a holy place ... [Selah.] vacat
... [Prayer of... k]ing of Judah.
Hear o [my] Go[d] ...
I will recount before those who fear Thee...
Who can understand Thy [th]oughts?