4Q306

"We grope like the blind along the wall, like those without eyes we grope."
— Isaiah 59:10, quoted in 4Q306

Men of the People (4Q306) is a brief Cave 4 Hebrew text recovered from Qumran, preserved in two fragmentary columns across a single manuscript. Published by Torleif Elgvin in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XIX: Qumran Cave 4: Sapiential Texts, Part 1 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), it spans approximately ten surviving lines in the primary fragment.

The text is disciplinary in character. It appears to address members of the community who have violated priestly laws — most probably the law of priestly donations and firstfruits (Deuteronomy 18:4: "the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil"), though the specific infraction is not fully recoverable. The method of condemnation is distinctive: the text applies Isaiah 59:10 to the offenders, describing them as groping in darkness like people without eyes.

Isaiah 59:10 is particularly charged in the sectarian literature. The full verse reads: "We grope like the blind along the wall, like those without eyes we grope; we stumble at noon as at twilight, among the robust as though we were dead." The verse comes from a passage (Isaiah 59:1–15) describing a covenant community that has severed its relationship with God through injustice and false speech. The Qumran community, which identified itself as the faithful remnant, turned this passage back outward — applying its language of blindness and stumbling to those within (or around) the community who failed to keep the commandments.

The second column closes with a formulaic double declaration: for they are guilty (כי אשמים הם), followed by and there was great wrath (ויהי קצף גדול) — the standard vocabulary of covenantal judgment in the sectarian texts. The same vocabulary appears in the Damascus Document and the Community Rule's section on covenant violations.

The scroll was published in DJD XIX (Elgvin et al., 1997). The Qimron Composite Edition (2010), vol. III, pp. 763–764 (Qimron numbering), presents the two fragments.

Fragment 1 (Column i)

[The opening lines are almost entirely lost; only scattered vocabulary survives from the left and right margins.]

[...] on the days of the Passover [...]

[...] by day [...]

[...] and they were despised [...]

[...] the flesh and the bones — [there is none] [...]

[...] the altar [...]

[...] from the firstfruit of grain [...]

Fragment 2 (Column ii)

[The second column is better preserved; five lines yield partial but coherent content.]

[He commanded] with all their hearts — [...]

[They walk] like the groping-blind, like those without eyes they walk — [...]

[Their eyes] and their eyes: until they see and their eyes are opened [...]

For they are guilty.

[...]

And there was great wrath.

Colophon

Source text: 4Q306, Cave 4, Qumran. Hebrew parchment. Two fragments with two columns. Published in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XIX: Qumran Cave 4, Sapiential Texts, Part 1, T. Elgvin et al., eds. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997). Qimron Composite Edition (2010), vol. III, pp. 763–764.

Translation: Translated from the Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (NTAC) with Claude (Anthropic). The translation works from the Qimron Composite Edition, decoding both the Miqdas main text and the MiqdasXalul (hollow-character reconstruction) layer. Confirmed vocabulary includes: ביומות פסח (on the days of Passover), יומם (by day/daily), ויהיו בזוי (and they were despised), העצמות ובשר (bones and flesh), מדגן (from grain/firstfruits), צוה בכל לבבם (he commanded with all their hearts), כי אשמים הם (for they are guilty), ויהי קצף גדול (and there was great wrath). The parallel citations in the Qimron editorial apparatus identify: Deuteronomy 18:4 (firstfruits law), Isaiah 59:10 (groping like the blind), and 2 Samuel 3:1 (David growing stronger, house of Saul growing weaker). The Isaiah 59:10 verse does not appear verbatim in the surviving text but is cited by the apparatus as a parallel — the text may quote, allude to, or use its vocabulary. All bracketed content indicates genuine gaps; no text has been fabricated.

Scribal note: The citation of 2 Samuel 3:1 as a scholarly parallel is intriguing. In the Qumran symbolic system, the David/Saul typology could apply to the community (David — the faithful remnant growing stronger) versus its opponents (the house of Saul — dwindling). If 4Q306 applied the David/Saul growth arc to the covenant situation, it would mean the community uses this historical precedent to promise that the blind and guilty will dwindle while the obedient grow strong. The text is too fragmentary to be certain; the parallel may be vocabulary-only rather than explicit citation.

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Source Text

4Q306 — Fragment 1 (Column i)

[...] ביומות פסח [...]
[...] יומם [...]
[...] ויהיו בזוי [...]
[...] ובשר ועצמות [...]
[...] [ה]מזבח [...]
[...] מדגן [...]

4Q306 — Fragment 2 (Column ii)

[...] צוה בכל לבבם [...]
[... כ]גששים [כ]אשר אין עינים [ילכו] [...]
[... עי]ניהם ועיניהם עד אשר יפקחו ויראו [...]
כי אשמים הם
[...]
ויהי קצף גדול

Source Colophon

Source text: Hebrew transcription from the Qimron Composite Edition (2010), Vol. III, pp. 763–764 (Miqdas/MiqdasXalul encoding). Characters decoded from the Miqdas font encoding; the MiqdasXalul (hollow) layer represents Qimron's reconstructions and is marked accordingly above with brackets. The NewPeninimMT parallel citations in the Qimron editorial apparatus — Deuteronomy 18:4, Isaiah 59:10, 2 Samuel 3:1 — are cited in the Colophon but not reproduced in the source text (they are Qimron's scholarly identifications, not part of the manuscript). Square brackets throughout indicate genuine lacunae.

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