From the Seed of David a ruler shall go forth.

(Lines 1–4 are too fragmentary for continuous translation. The fragment's eight lines preserve only isolated words except for lines 5–9.)

[...] service [...] and [...]

For from the Seed of David — from [his] seed [...] [a ruler shall go] forth —

[A ruler who] did not [...] [a watchman and...]

[Fragment ends.]

Colophon

Source: 4Q479, Caves of Qumran (Cave 4). One Cave 4 Hebrew fragment, eight lines; only lines 5–9 yield recoverable vocabulary. Published in Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, Vol. 3 (Yad Ben-Zvi, 2015). See also Brooke et al., Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XXII (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996).

Tradition: Judean sectarian literature. The fragment preserves the Davidic messianic formula "כי מזרע דויד יצא מושל" — "for from the Seed of David a ruler shall go forth" — one of several formulations of royal messianic expectation in the Dead Sea Scrolls corpus. Closely paralleled by the Florilegium (4Q174), which cites 2 Samuel 7:11–14 as the scriptural warrant for a Davidic messiah; the Rule of the Congregation (1QSa), which speaks of "the Messiah of Israel" at the eschatological banquet; and the Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521), which associates the messianic figure with healing and resurrection. The phrase "יצא מושל" echoes Micah 5:1 ("from you shall come forth the ruler of Israel"), the Balaam oracle of Numbers 24:17 ("a scepter shall rise from Israel"), and the Davidic dynastic promise of Genesis 49:10 ("the scepter shall not depart from Judah").

On the fragmentary state: Lines 5–6 preserve the core messianic phrase with high confidence. Lines 7–9 preserve the words "David," "ruler," "did not do," and what may be a watchman/sentinel term (צפ), but their syntactic relationship is unclear. No attempt has been made to supply words beyond what the transcription yields.

Note on lacunae: Isolated words and unrecovered lines are indicated by square brackets and ellipses. No gaps have been filled with fabricated text.

Translation: New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026 (from Hebrew transcription in Qimron composite edition). This translation is independent of existing English renderings.

🌲