The sect fought on two fronts: against the world outside, and against itself within. These fragments preserve the inner argument — rulings challenged, measurements contested, purity lines drawn and redrawn. What looks like technical law is theological combat.
The Controversies (4Q513, מחלוקות) is a Cave 4 Hebrew halakhic text from Qumran preserving disputed legal rulings on three interlocking subjects: (1) purity transgressions — who defiles and who is defiled, particularly regarding improper eating and contact with the impure; (2) standard measurements for tithes and offerings — the correct shekel weight, the correct ephah and bath volumes; (3) the Sabbath-memorial day and the omer-offering calendar, including the prohibition on bringing the omer on a Sabbath; and (4) a controversy about oil — whether immersion in oil (rather than water) constitutes valid purification. The text overlaps with 4Q159 (Ordinances) on the shekel-weight dispute. Primary publication: DJD VII (Baillet, 1982). Key study: J. M. Baumgarten, Studies in Qumran Law (Leiden: Brill, 1977), pp. 89–95.
Fragment 1 — Those Who Defile
[...] And none shall be admitted to the assembly [until purified at evening].
[...] Those who eat defiled food in their house and on their behalf — and he eats from the sanctuary — those who do and those who defile.
[...] Those who deal in the silver of the city [...]
Fragment 2 — Weights and Measures
[...] Weigh twenty gerahs [to the shekel]. Ten gerahs of silver, ten [gerahs] for the holy things. Weigh two hundred [...]
[...] the impure animal (המטמאה) — and this is the ephah [...] One ephah — so shall it be. The bath of wine [...] And the third-[ephah] and the third-[of-the-third] [...] one tenth (issaron).
Fragment 3 — The Memorial and the Omer
[...] because it is a Sabbath-rest (שבתון) [...].
[A day of] remembrance — it is a holy day. The omer offering — it shall not be brought [...] the Sabbath day of the LORD, besides the Sabbaths [...]
And none [shall perform] the remembrance accordingly, because of the error of the nakedness [...] with a stubborn heart and refusing to turn away from [the Torah].
[It is written] in the book [...].
Fragment 4 — Atonement and Oil
[...] And none [are absolved].
[...] because these are the impurities — and those who carry fornications also — to gather the assembly in purity [...]
[...] All these things, to complete the heave-offering to all of them, and the animals [shall atone] [...] to make atonement [...] for those who eat unworthily, lest [...] if it is accepted [...] and not [counted] as atonement — for they began iniquity, those who eat them in guilt [...].
[...] those who are sinners [...] and guilt (אשמה) is upon them.
[...] for atonement (לכפורי רצון) [...]
[...] and those who defile [...] anointed in oil (שלמים בשמן) [...] which are anointed and defiled [...]
[...] if not [...] everything [is] whole [...]
Colophon
Translated from the Hebrew of 4Q513, using the Qimron Composite Text edition (Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, vol. 2 [Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2013], Zenodo CC BY 4.0 open-access release). Primary publication: DJD VII (Maurice Baillet, 1982). Key study: J. M. Baumgarten, Studies in Qumran Law (Leiden: Brill, 1977), pp. 89–95. Lacunae are marked with [...]. Heavily damaged lines are not translated.
Translation: New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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