The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English
Page 37
For my oppressors have increased before Thee.
Thou hast known them
and Thou hast subdued the enemies of my soul before
Thine e[yes].
For I will live ...
[and] Thou shalt [not] conceal my iniquity to those with
understanding.
Thou shalt slay them (the enemies) O God of my salvation.
The days of my existence are treasured up.
What can a man say (but) ‘Here I am’ ?
And how [dost Thou deliver] to the sword
those who wait for me,
those who say... on the day of wrath?
They have woven a crown for my head.
For their glory is a splendid pillar...
... from the Book of li[fe].
Those who frighten me will be cut off
And my enemies will finish ...
... a song and thanksgiving ...
Fr. 33
... Rise [above the heaven]s, O Lord,
and [my] God ...
And let us glory in Thy might
for [Thy wonders] are inscrutable
... Thou shalt place me
and Thy chastisement will be my [joy].
... everlasting and to extol. Thee.
For my sins have become too many for me...
But Thou, my God, shalt send Thy spi[rit]
[and Thy mercy]
to the son of Thy handmaid
and Thy loving-kindness to the servant who is near Thee ...
I will exult and rejoice in Thee before those who fear [Thee],
for [Thou shalt judge] Thy servants in Thy righteousness,
and according to Thy loving-kindness
... to save ... to thee. Selah.
vacat
Prayer of Manasseh, King of Judah when the King of Assyria
gaoled him.
... [my G]od ... my salvation is near in Thine eyes ...
I wait for Thy delivering presence,
and I feel faint before Thee because of my s[in].
For [Thou hast] enlarged [Thy mercies(?)],
and I have multiplied guilt.
And thus ...
from eternal joy
and my soul shall not see goodness ...
He has lifted me up on high
above a nation ...
And I did not remember thee [in Thy plac]e of h[oliness];
I did not serve [Thee] ...
Fr. 45
... I will make understand .... - - . :
I fear Thee and will cleanse myself
Of abominations known to me.
I give my soul to be humbled before Thee.
They have multiplied sin
And they plot against me to imprison me.
But I have trusted Thee ...
And do not judge me, my God, ...
Those who conspire against me
Let loose their lying tongue ...
Fr. 46
... [f]ools.
... Thy precepts and Thy splendour and Thy beauty ...
and like clouds they spread over the fa[ce] of the earth.
They will be scattered greatly until ...
Man will not be strong and will not rise
... [and] Thou hast [t]ested all.
And the elect, like offerings, Thou wilt purify before Thee,
but the hated ones Thou wilt reject like impurity.
And a stormy wind ... their [p]ractice.
And those who fear Thee shall be before Thee always.
(Their) horns are horns made of iron to gore many,
and they will gore ...
And Thou wilt make their hoofs of bronze
but sinners like dung shall be trampled upon the ground ...
Fr. 69
... When he saw that the peoples [of the la]nd behaved
abominably,
... all the land (turned) wholly into impure uncleanness,
and from the beginning marvellously ... he consulted his heart
to destroy them from it (the land) and make on it a
[holy(?)] people.
... in you and he gave you through his spirit prophets
to instruct and teach you ...
... your [God(?)] descended from heaven and spoke to you
to instruct you and bring you back
from the works of the inhabitants [of the land].
... [pre]cepts, laws and commandments
he established through a covenant by the hand [of Moses].
... dwelt (?) on the land. Then it will be cleansed and ...
... to consider you whether you will be his.
And if [not,] ...
And to breach the covenant which he made with you
and to become a stranger and not ...
... over wickedness and to change the words of his mouth ...
Frs. 76-7
... [the congregati]on of the Holy of Holies
and the lot of the King of Kings ...
... my words and they will consider the wisdom
which is issued from my mouth.
... and a true judge and faithful witness.
Is there strength in you to answer Him ...
... to hear.
... Who among you will answer and stand up against his
rebuke? ...
... For you have many judges and countless (hostile) witnesses.
But ... the Lord will sit in judgement against you,
judging truly and without injustice ...
... his spirits to pronounce on you true judgements.
Is there understanding for you to learn ... ?
... Lord of lords, mighty and marvellous and none is like him.
He has chosen y[ou instead of power]ful [peoples]
and great nations to be his people to rule over all ...
... [hea]ven and earth
and as the highest above all the nations of the earth ...
Lamentations
(4Q]179,4Q501)
Several fragments of a poem inspired by the biblical Book of Lamentations have been preserved in Cave 4 (4Q179). Only fragment 2 offers a text long enough for intelligible translation. See J. M. Allegro and A. A. Anderson, DJD, V, 75-7; cf. J. Strugnell, RQ 7 (1970), 250-52. A second work of a similar nature (4Q501) has appeared in M. Baillet, DJD, VII, 79-80. Both texts are dated to the second half of the first century BCE.
4Q179, fr. 2
[How] solitary [lies] the city,
the princess of all the peoples is desolate
like a forsaken woman;
and all her [daughters are forsak[en]
[like] a forsaken woman,
like a woman hurt and forsaken
by her [husband].
All her palaces and [her] wal[ls] are
like a barren woman;
and like a sheltered woman
are all [her] paths;
[all her] ...
like a woman of bitterness,
and all her daughters are like women
mourning for [their] hus[bands];
[all her] ... like women
deprived of their only children.
Weep, weep, Jer[usalem]
[her tears flow] upon her cheeks
because of her sons ...
4Q501
Give not our inheritance to strangers,
nor our (hard-earned) property to foreigners.
Remember that we are [the forsaken] of Thy people
and the forsaken of Thine inheritance.
Remember the desolate children of Thy Covenant...
T[hy] freely devoted ... ;
they err with no one to bring them back;
they are broken with none to bind them;
[they are bent down with none to ra]ise them up.
The damned of Thy people have surrounded me
with their lying tongues.
They have been turned ...
and Thy boughs to the progeny of a woman.
Look and see the shame of t
he sons of [Thy people (?),
for] our skin [is burning]
and feverish heat has seized us
because of their reviling tongue.
Songs for the Holocaust of the Sabbath
(4Q400—407, 11Q17, Masada 1039-200)
Fragments of a document concerned with heavenly worship were first published by J. Strugnell under the title ‘The Angelic Liturgy’, Congress Volume Oxford, Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, VII (Leiden, 1960), 318-45. The full material, viz. eight very damaged manuscripts from Cave 4 (4Q400-407), small fragments from Cave 11 (11Q17) and a large fragment from Masada (1039-200), was subsequently edited by Carol Newsom in DJD, XI, 173-401. For 11Q17 see F. García Martinez et al., DJD, XXIII, 259-304.
From the point of view of palaeography all the manuscripts are dated to the first century BCE, with the exception of the Masada fragment, which belongs to the first half of the first century CE. The songs contain angelic praises of God assigned to the first thirteen sabbaths, i.e. the first quarter of the solar year. They imply the simultaneity of heavenly and earthly worship. Although often obscure, the poems depict the celestial sanctuary, the throne-chariot, and the various groups participating in the angelic liturgy; they also include the words of the benedictions sung by the seven archangels.
The main source of inspiration is the Book of Ezekiel, especially chapters i and x in connection with the throne-chariot and xl-xlviii for the heavenly sanctuary.
The songs include nothing that can be dated. On the basis of the script and on general grounds the composition is said to belong to the first century BCE.
The Merkabah, or divine throne-chariot, was a central subject in ancient and medieval Jewish esotericism and mysticism. Hence this early post-biblical manifestation of the speculation is of considerable historical importance for the study of the so-called Merkabahmysticism and of the Hekhaloth (‘heavenly palaces’) literature. It is noteworthy that the Mishnah prohibits the use of Ezekiel’s passage about the chariot as a prophetic reading in synagogue (Megillah IV, 10) or even its discussion in private, unless with a sage already familiar with the subject (Hagigah 11, 1).
The presence of this Qumran document in the fortress of Masada is best explained by assuming either that a number of Essenes joined the revolutionaries and took with them some of their manuscripts, or that the rebels occupied the Qumran area after its evacuation by the Community and later transferred some Essene manuscripts to their final place of resistance.
4Q400 fr. I i
[To the Master. Song of the holocaust of the] first [Sabba]th, on the fourth of the first month.
Praise [the God of ... ] the ‘gods’ (= elohim) of supreme holiness; in [his] divine [kingship, rejoice. For he has established] supreme holiness among the everlastingly holy, the Holy of Holies, to be for him the priests of [the inner Temple in his royal sanctuary], ministers of the Presence in his glorious innermost Temple chamber. In the congregation of all the gods (= elim) of [knowledge, and in the congregation of all the ‘gods’ of] God, he engraved his precepts for all the spiritual works, and [his glorious] judgements [for all who lay the foundations of] knowledge, the people (endowed with) his glorious understanding, the ‘gods’ who are close to knowledge ... of eternity and from the fountain of holiness to the sanctuary of supreme [holiness] ... prie[sts] of the inner Temple, ministers of the Presence of the [most] holy King ... his glory. They shall grow in strength decree by decree to be seven [eternal councils. For he fo]unded them [for] himself as the most [holy, who minister in the h]oly of holies ... do not endure [those who per]vert the way. There is [n]othing impure in their sanctuaries. He engraved for them [precepts relating to ho]ly gifts; by them, all the everlastingly holy shall sanctify themselves. He shall purify the [luminously] pure [to repa]y all those who render their way crooked. Their expiations shall obtain his goodwill for all those who repent from sin... knowledge among the priests of the inner Temple, and from their mouth (proceed) the teachings of the holy with the judgements of [his glory] ... his [gra]ces for everlasting merciful forgiveness. In his zealous vengeance ... he has established for himself as priests of the inner Temple, the most holy ... of gods, the priests of the highest heights who are near [to] ...
4Q4002 (4Q401, fr. 14, 7-8)
... wonderfully to extol Thy glory among the divine beings of knowledge, and the praises of Thy kingship among the most ho[ly]. More wonderfully than ‘gods’ and men they are glorified amid all the camps of the ‘gods’ and feared by companies of men. They recount his royal majesty according to their knowledge and exalt [his glory in all] his royal heavens. In all the highest heights [they shall sing] marvellous psalms according to all [their understanding, and the glorious splendour] of the King of the ‘gods’ they shall recount on their stations ... for what shall we be counted among them? For what shall our priesthood be counted in their dwellings? [How shall our] ho[liness compare with their supreme] holiness? How does the offering of our tongue of dust compare with the knowledge of the divine [beings] ... our jubilation. Let us extol the God of knowledge ... Holy of Holies and His understanding is above all those who possess knowledge ...
4Q402, fr. 4, 9-10
... ‘gods’ run to his visitation and the voice of a crowd ... of ‘gods’ in the war of heaven. And it will be ...
4Q402 4, 11-15=MASADA FRAGMENT 1, 1-7
... wonderful new works. All these he has done wonder[fully with all the eternally hidden things] ... all the words of knowledge; for from the God of knowledge (comes) all that exists for ever, [and from] his [plan]s (come) all the eternally appointed. He produces the former things in their appointed times, and the latter things in their seasons. None among those who know the [wonderfully] revealed things can comprehend them before he makes them. When he makes them, none of [the doers of righteous]ness can understand his plan, for they are his glorious works. Before they come into being, (they derive) [from] his [pla]n.
[For the Master. So]ng of the holocaust of the sixth Sabbath on the ninth of the [second] month.
[Praise the G]od of gods, you inhabitants of the highest heights... [h]oly of holies and exalt his glory ... [kn]owledge of the everlasting gods ...
4Q403 1, i, 1-29 (4Q404-5)=MASADA FRAGMENT 1039-200
[Psalm of exaltation (uttered) by the tongue] of the third of the sovereign Princes, an exaltation ... He shall exalt the God of the angels on high seven times with seven wonderful exaltations.
Psalm of praise (uttered) by the tongue of the four[th] to the Mighty One above all the [gods], seven wonderful mighty deeds. He shall praise the God of mighty deeds seven times with seven words of [marvellous] prais[e].
Psalm of thanksgiving (uttered) by the tongue of the fifth to the [K]in[g] of glory with its seven wonderful thanksgivings. He shall thank the God of glory se[ven times with se]v[en wor]ds of wonderful thanksgivings.
[Psalm of] exultation (uttered) by the tongue of the sixth to [the] God of goodness with its seven [wonderful] exultations. He shall exult before the Ki[ng of] goodness seven times with sev[en words of] wonderful exultation.
Psalm of [singing (uttered) by the t] ongue of the seventh of the [sovereign] Prin[ces], a powerful song [to the Go]d of ho[liness] with its se[ven] marvellous [songs]. He shall sing [to] the Kin[g of ho]liness seven times with [seven w]ords of [wonderful] so[ngs; sev]en psa[lms (singing) his blessings; sev]en [psalm]s of magnification of [his righteousness; seven psalms] of exaltation of [his] kingshi[p; seven] psalms of [praises of his glory; sev]en p[salms of thanksgivings for his marvellous deeds]; [seven psalms of ex]ul[tation of] his power; seven [psalms singin]g his holiness; ... [seven times with seven wonderful words, words of exaltation of the Sovereign Princes.]
In the glo[ri]ous name of God, [the first of] the sov[erei]gn Princes sha[ll bless] all the ... [with seven wonderful words blessing all] their [councils] in [his holy] sanctuary [with sev]en wonderful wo[rd]s, [and he shall bless those who kn]ow the everlasting things.
[In the name of] his truth, [the second of t
he sovereign Princes shall bless] all [their] sta[tions with] se[ven] wonderful word[s and he shall bless with] seven [wonderful] words. [He shall bless all those who exalt the] King with seven g[lor]iou[s] w[ords of his] marvels, [all the] eternally pure.
[In the name of] his exalted kingship, the third [of the sovereign Princes shall bless all who are lif]ted up [in kn]owledge with se[ven w]ords of exal[ta]tion ... [of his true kn]ow[ledge], he shall bless with seven marvellous words; and he shall bless all [who are destined] for righteousness [with seven] wonderful [w]ords.
In the name of the King’s majesty, [the fourth] of the [sovereign] Princes shall bless with seven [majestic] words [all who] walk [up]rightly. He shall bless all the gods [close to] true knowledge [with seve]n righteous words (for gaining) [his gl]o[rious] favours.
In the name of [the majesty] of his marvellous deeds, the fifth [sovereign] Prince shall bless with seven [words] of his exalted truth [all who] ... purity. [He shall bless] all who eagerly do his will with seven [marvellous words. And he shall bless] all who confess him with seven majestic [wor]ds that they may thank [him for ever].
In the name of [the mighty deeds of] the gods the sixth sovereign Prince shall bless with seven words of his marvellous mighty deeds all who are mighty in wisdom. He shall bless all the perfect of way with seven marvellous words to be in attendance for [ever]. He shall bless all who wait for him with seven marvellous words that they may obtain the return of his [gracious] favours.
In the name of his holiness, the seventh of the sovereign Princes shall bless with seven words of his marvellous holiness all the holy founders of kno[wledge. He shall bless] all who exalt his statutes with sev[en] marvellous [wo]rds (which shall be for them) stout shields. He shall bless all [who are destined for] righteousness [and always] forever [pra]ise his glorious kingship with seven [marvellous words] for everlasting peace.