The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (74 page)

Three small Cave 4 fragments which partly overlap with 2Q22 published by M. Baillet
(DJD,
III, 81—2) represent a historical narrative of an unnamed speaker in the first person, and with the single actual name of Og, king of Bashan (cf. Num. xxi, 33—5; Deut. iii, 4—5, 11). Baillet and the editor of 4Q373, Eileen Schuller, wonder whether the narrator is David and the subject is his fight with Goliath, a theory based on a few verbal similarities to 1 Samuel xvii, which cannot, however, easily account for the mention of Og, apart from his height (see Deut. iii, 11) which was comparable to that of the giant Goliath (cf. 1 Sam. xvii, 4). S. Talmon, on the other hand, has argued that the topic of the fragment is more likely to be the defeat of Og by Moses, richly elaborated by Targum, Midrash and Talmud (cf. L. Ginzberg,
The Legends of the Jews
I, 160; III, 340—47; V, n. 181; VI, 667-8, 684—700). On the whole, the second alternative seems slightly preferable.

For the
editio princeps,
see E. Schuller and M. Bernstein,
DJD,
XXVIII, 199—204.

... all his servants Og ... his height was ... and a half cubits and two [cubits were his breadth ... ] a spear like a cedar tree ... a shield like a tower. The nimble-footed ... he who removed them seven stadia. [I] did not stand ... and I did not change. The Lord our God broke him. I prepared wounding slings together with bows and not ... for war to conquer fortified cities and to rout ...

Two mutilated columns, as well as several further small fragments, of a narrative appear to describe the future conquest and/or division of the Holy Land. It appears to be related to the extremely fragmentary 5Q
9
, published by J. T. Milik in
DJD,
III, 179—80, which mentions the name of Joshua. Col. 1 of 4Q
522
consists of a list of localities, of which a number appear in Joshua xv—xxi (e.g. Beer Sheba, Bealoth, Keilah, Adullam, etc.) and Judges i (Ashkelon, Kitron). Col. 11 predicts the conquest of Zion by David and the building of the Temple. In col. 11, 4 and 7 God is referred to in the third person, but in lines 9—10 he seems to be the speaker.

For the
editio princeps
of 4Q522, see E. Puech,
DJD,
XXV, 39—74.

II
... For behold a son is born to Jesse, son of Perez, son of Ju[dah] ... [He is to take] the Rock of Zion and from there he is to possess the Amorites ... to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. Gold and silver ... cedars and cypress trees will he br[ing from] Lebanon to build it. And the sons of ... and David. The Lor[d] will make (him) dwell in security ... [The Lord of h]eaven will reside with him [for] ever. But now the Amorites are there and the Canaan[ites] ... inhabitant whom I consider guilty, whom I have not sought ... from you. And the Shilonite and the ... I have made him a slave ... And now ... to a distance from ... Eleazar ...

Usually designated by the misnomer ‘Psalms of Joshua', this badly mutilated composition represents a rewritten account of the story of Joshua. 4Q
378
, written in Herodian formal script, consists of twenty-seven mostly tiny fragments, while the late Hasmonaean 4Q
379
comprises forty-one. The majority of the fragments are too small for meaningful translation. According to Carol Newsom, the overall form of the composition is a farewell speech by Joshua. It contains admonitions, curses and prayers (e.g. ‘prayer for our sins', 4Q
378
6 i, 1.4, a prayer listing the twelve tribes of Israel—Levi, Reuben, Gad, and Dan are legible, 4Q
379
1), songs (‘songs of praise', 4Q
379
22 ii, 7, and a praise mentioning Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Eleazar and Ithamar, 4Q
379
17). The biblical text used recalls the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch. The numbering of the fragments appears to be arbitrary, as it does not correspond to the sequence of the biblical story. 4Q
379
22 ii is quoted in 4QTestimonia (4Q
175
).

For the
editio princeps,
see Carol Newsom,
DJD,
XXII, 241—99.

... And the children [of Israel] wept [for Moses in the plains of Moab (Deut. xxxiv, 8) by the Jordan at] Jericho at Bethjeshimoth [as far as Abel-shittim (Num. xxxiii, 48—9) for thirty days and (then) the days of weeping and] mourning for Moses were ended (Deut. xxxiv, 8). And the children of Israel ... [the covenant wh]ich the Lord made for ...

... Thy [dr]ead and fear ...

... for the Lord yo[ur God] ... [to es]tablish his words which he spoke ... [the oath] which he swore to Abraham to give [him] a good and broad [land], a land of brooks of water, [of fountains and springs, flowing forth in val]leys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, [of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and] honey (Deut. viii, 7—8). For [this is] a land flowing with milk and honey; ( ... a land] who[se sto]nes are iron and out of whose hi[ll]s [you can dig] copper (Deut. viii, 9) ...

... Moses, O my God. And he did not annihilate them because of their sins ... thy people by the hand of Joshua, minister of thy servant Moses thy ... by the hand of Moses(?) to Joshua for the sake of thy people ... [the covenant] which thou hast made with Abraham ...

... loving-kindness to thousands

... they [cr]ossed (the Jordan) on dry grounds (cf. Josh. iv, 22) in [the fi]rst month of the forty-f[irst] year of their exodus from the lan[d] of Egypt (cf. Josh. iv, 19). That was a jubilee year at the beginning of their entry into the land of Canaan. And the Jordan overflows its banks from the f[our]th (?) month until the wheat harvest ...

Blessed be the Lord, the God of I[srael] ...

When Josh[ua] fini[sh]ed off[ering prai]se in [his] thanksgivings, [he said]: C[ursed be the m]an who rebui[1]ds [this cit]y! [May he lay its foundations] on [his] first-born, and [s]et its gate on [his y]oungest son (Josh. vi, 26). Behold, an [accur]sed [man of Belial] [has risen] to be[com]e a fowler's net to his people and a cause of destruction to all his neighbour[s]. And [his brother] arose [and ruled in li]es, both of them being instruments of violence. They have rebuilt [th]is [city] and have set up for it a wall and towers to make it a stronghold of ungodliness in Israel and a horror in Ephraim and in Judah and a great evil among the children of Jacob. [And they have com]mitted an abomination in the land and a great blasphemy and sh[ed blood] like wa[ters on the ramparts of the daughter] of Zion and in the precincts of Jerusalem ...

Two fragments detached from an apocryphal account of the end of the Book of Joshua are thought by their editor, S. Talmon, to have originated at Qumran. The composition belongs to the genre of ‘rewritten Bible' and testifies to a freedom in retelling scriptural stories. The handwriting places the manuscript towards the turn of the era.

For a preliminary edition, see Shemaryahu Talmon, ‘Fragments of a Joshua Apocryphon—Masada 1039—211 (final photo 5254)',
JJS
47 (1996), 128—39.

... they were afraid ... [they were praising] the name of the Most High for they saw th[at ... God] was fighting for His people against their enemies [and they were not afraid ... ] because of them for God was with them and blessed them and sa[ve]d them. [And whatever] he said about them happened to them and no word [fe]ll to the ground, and He multiplied their [seed greatly].

Fragments of an account of the story of Samuel from Cave 4 (4Q160), said to pertain to the second century BCE, were published by J. M. Allegro. They follow the first book of Samuel and include a narrative passage, a dialogue between Samuel and Eli, a prayer and an autobiographical discourse.

For the
editio princeps,
see J. M. Allegro and A. A. Anderson,
DJD,
V, 9—11.

[F]or [I have s]worn [to] the house [of Eli that the iniquity of the house of Eli relating to sacrifices and offerings shall never be expiated. And] Samue[1] heard the words of the Lord ... [and] Samuel lay down before Eli. And he rose and opened the ga[tes of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid] to report to Eli the oracle. Answering, Eli said [to Samuel: Samuel, my son, let] me know the vision of God. Do not [hide it from me, pray! May God do to you thus and may He add to it] if you hide from me anything of the words that He spoke to you. [And] Samuel [reported all and hid nothing] ...

... Thy servant. I have not restrained my strength until this (moment), for ... [let them] be gathered, O my God, to Thy people and be a help to it and raise it ... [and deliver] their [fe]e[t] from muddy clay [and] establish for them a rock from of old, for Thy praise [is over all the peo]ples. Thy people shall take refuge [in Thy house] ... Amid the rage of the enemies of Thy people, Thou shalt verify Thy glory [and] over the lands and seas ... and Thy fear is over [al]l... and kingdom. And all the peoples of Thy lands shall know [that] Thou hast created them ... and the multitudes shall understand that this is Thy people ... Thy holy ones whom Thou hast sanctified.

154 papyrus fragments, palaeographically dated to the first half of the first century BCE, belong to a kind of paraphrase of the Books of Kings as various personal names (Jezebel, Ahab, Obadiah, Elijah, Elisha) clearly indicate. Only one fragment is extensive enough to allow intelligible translation. An unidentified speaker recounts events pertaining to the history of Israel in the form of an address to God.

For the
editio princeps,
see S. Olyan,
DJD,
XIII, 363—416.

... from Thy word and to rely on Thy covenant and their heart be ... to sanctify Him/it ... hands so that they might be Thine, and Thou theirs and Thou be righteous ... For Thou wilt be a giver of an inheritance ... and lord over them and Thou wilt be a father to them and not ... Thou hast forsaken them to the hand of their kings and hast made them stumble among the people[s] ... not ... Thy life. Didst Thou give them [the Law?] by the hand of Moses ... Thy judgements and lifting the iniquity of Thy people to the heights ... Thy patience and the multitude [of mercies?] ...

Three minute fragments reproduce the Hebrew text of 2 Kings ii, 14—16 with paraphrastic supplements. Only fr. 2 can be partly reconstructed and translated. The opening words ‘[And] Elisha went up' are without biblical parallel.

For the
editio princeps,
see J. Trebolle,
DJD
, XXII, 305—9.

... [And] Elisha went up. [When the sons of the prophets who were over at Jericho] saw [him over against them, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests over Elish]a. And they came to meet Elisha, [and bowed to the ground before him. And they said to him, Behold now, there are with your servants] fifty [strong] men; [pray, let them go, and seek your master; it may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mou]nta[in or into some valley].

Three badly damaged fragments of an early Herodian manuscript speak in favourable terms of the last Judaean king Zedekiah. He is depicted as conversing with the archangel Michael who promises to make a covenant with him. The Bible is less kind towards this evil-doer (2 Kgs xxiv, 19, etc.), but 4Q
470
prefigures Josephus, who praises Zedekiah's ‘goodness and sense of justice' (Antiquities X, 120), and the Talmud (bShab. 149b; bSanh. 103a; bArak. 17a).

For the
editio princeps
of 4Q
470
, see Erik Larson, Lawrence H. Schiffinan and John Strugnell,
DJD,
XIX, 235—44.

... Michael ... Zedekiah [shall en]ter into a covenant on [th]at day ... to practise and to cause all the Torah to be practised. [At] that time M[ich]ael shall say to Zedekiah.... I will make with you [a cov]e[nant] before the assembly [to p]ractise ...

... their [c]ry towards heaven ... [to] restore them to health and help them by the spirit of [his] m[ight] ...

... and by the pillar of fire [many] times ... And Moses wrote when he spoke according to a[ll] ... Kadesh B[arnea] ...

Palaeographically dated to the mid-first century BCE, the two joined fragments of 4Q
462
represent the only meaningful part of a historical narrative told from a theological point of view. Both the beginning and the end of each of the nineteen lines are missing, but the general tenor of the story can be guessed: after repeated oppression and humiliation, God is to remember Jerusalem. The Tetragram is twice replaced by four dots as in the Community Rule (1QS) VIII, 15. There are six further small fragments.

For the
editio princeps
of 4Q
462
, see M. Smith,
DJD,
XIX, 195—209. 4Q
463
, or Narrative D, contains only a few broken lines, starting with ‘And God remembered his word which he said', followed by the quotation of Lev. xxvi, 44. Apparently the fragment has vanished and the text edited by M. Smith (ibid., 211-14) is based on J. Strugnell's transcription. The poorly preserved 4Q
464
(ibid., 215—3 2) refers to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and apparently to Joseph. Fr. 3 ii, 7 contains the word
pesher
(interpretation), suggesting that an exegetical comment followed in the lacuna.