The age of wickedness is fulfilled [...] the time of justice has arrived, and the earth is filled with knowledge and the praise of God. The age of peace has arrived, and the laws of truth [...] every tongue will bless him, and every man will bow down before him, and they will be of one mind.

Fragment 1, Column ii

[...] the dread of hardship, and the trial of the pit.
And they will refine by them the chosen of justice,
and he will wipe out all iniquity —
on account of his merciful ones,
for the age of wickedness is fulfilled,
and all injustice will pass away.

For the time of justice has arrived,
and the earth is filled with knowledge
and the praise of God.

In the days of [...] the age of peace has arrived,
and the laws of truth,
and the testimony of justice,
to instruct all in God's paths
and in the mighty acts of his deeds
for eternal centuries.

Every tongue will bless him.
Every man will bow down before him,
and they will be of one mind.
For he knows their actions before they were created,
and for the service of justice he has divided their territories
in their generations.

For the dominion of goodness has arrived,
and he will raise the throne of [...]
and very high.
Intelligence, prudence, and sound wisdom
are tested by his holy design.

Fragment 2

By his holy design he established them for [...]
He created them to renew [...]
of his days, and darkness [...]
for their appointed times before [...]

Fragment 3

[...] to destroy the earth with his anger and to renew [...]
the well of knowledge, because [...]

Colophon

Text: 4Q215a (4QTime of Righteousness, formerly designated 4QTNaphtali), Cave 4. PAM 43.245 (ROC 371). Three fragments; the primary content is Fragment 1, col. ii (twelve lines). Edited by E.G. Chazon and M.E. Stone in a preliminary publication and treated also by R. Eisenman and M. Wise in The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (156–160). García Martínez and Tigchelaar, DSSE, vol. 2, pp. 456–457. Also designated Wacholder-Abegg 3, 7–8.

Time of Righteousness is one of the most luminous eschatological texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls corpus. The scroll does not set out a battle plan or a calendar of apocalyptic woes; it announces an arrival. The repeated verb ba' — "has come," "has arrived" — structures the passage: the age of wickedness is fulfilled, the time of justice has arrived, the age of peace has arrived, the dominion of goodness has arrived. The eschaton is not predicted but proclaimed, as if the speaker stands at the threshold.

The most striking phrase is line 5: "the earth is filled with knowledge and the praise of God" (ומלאה הארץ דעה ותהלת אל). This echoes Isaiah 11:9 — "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of yhwh" — but adds praise alongside knowledge: knowing God and blessing God are simultaneous and inseparable in the age to come. The conjunction of da'at (knowledge) and tehillat El (praise of God) makes this one of the most concentrated eschatological visions in Qumran literature.

Line 7's "every tongue will bless him" (כול לשון תברכנו) echoes Isaiah 45:23, cited in Philippians 2:11 and Romans 14:11 in a christological register. Here it is unambiguously monotheistic and universal: all human tongues, and "every man will bow down" (כול אנש ישתחוה לו). The universalism is paired with unity: "they will be of one mind" (יהיה לבבם אחד) — the one-heartedness of the restored humanity.

Line 9's "for the service of justice he has divided their territories in their generations" (ועבודת הצדק פלג גבולותם בדורותם) develops the nationological theology of the Table of Nations: God's original division of territories is revealed as eschatologically purposeful — arranged for justice's ultimate service.

Fragment 3's "to destroy the earth with his anger and to renew" echoes Isaiah 65:17 (the new creation) and the destruction-before-renewal pattern common to Qumran apocalypticism (cf. Apocryphon of Jeremiah C).

The text was formerly associated with 4Q215 (the Testament of Naphtali) because of overlapping manuscript traditions, but is now recognized as a distinct composition designated 4Q215a by Chazon and Stone.

Translation: Good Works Translation from Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Hebrew transcription consulted in García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–1999), vol. 2, pp. 456–457.

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Source Text

4Q215a — עת הצדק (Fragment 1, col. ii; Fragments 2–3)

Hebrew transcription from García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, pp. 456–457 (Brill, 1997–1999). Square brackets indicate lacunae or restorations. Braces { } indicate scribal cancellation.

Fragment 1, col. ii

[…]…[…]…[…] 2 –  1
בם לבחירי צדק וימח ]כו[ל פשע וצרת מצוק ונסוי שחת ויצרופו    3
[וכול עולה ת]עבו[ר ]כיא בעבור חס]ד[יו כיא שלם קץ הרשע    4
[… בימ]י באה עת הצדק ומלאה הארץ דעה ותהלת אל    5
[… בימ]י בא קץ השלום וחוקי האמת ותעודת ]ה[צדק להשכיל] כול[    6
תברכנו [בדרכי אל ]ו[בגבורות מעשיו] … ע[ד עולמי עד כול ל]שון[    7
[וכול אנש ישתחוה לו] והיה לב[בם אח]ד[ כיא הואה ]ידע    8
[בדורותם כיא בא פעולתם בטרם הבראם ועבודת הצדק פלג גבולותם ]vacat?    9
ממשל }הצדק{ הטוב וירם כסא ה[…]    10
[… נבחנו במחש]בת[ ק]ו[דש]ו ומודה גבה השכל ערמה ותושיה    11
[…]…[…]    12

Fragment 2

[…]…[…] קודשו יסדם ל    1
[… בראם לחד]ש    2
מימיו    3
[… ] למועדי …]…[ חושך    4
[… ]למועדים בטרם    5
]…[…]…[    6

Fragment 3

[…  ]…[להחרים ארץ] ב[חרונו ולחדש    1
[…] מ[קור דעה כי    2
[…]…[…]    3

Notes

Line 3: וצרת מצוק = "the dread/straits of hardship" (root צרר). נסוי שחת = "trial of the pit" — a testing in circumstances of near-destruction. ויצרופו = "and they will refine/smelt" (root צרף) — the metallurgical purification image common to Qumran (cf. 1QS 8:3–4; Zech 13:9). לבחירי צדק = "the chosen of justice/the elect of righteousness."

Line 4: קץ הרשע = "the age/end of wickedness" — a standard Qumran temporal marker (cf. 1QH 12:5; CD 6:10).

Line 5: עת הצדק = "the time of justice/righteousness." ומלאה הארץ דעה = "and the earth is filled with knowledge" — echoes Isaiah 11:9. ותהלת אל = "and the praise of God."

Line 6: קץ השלום = "the age of peace." חוקי האמת = "the laws of truth." ותעודת הצדק = "the testimony of justice."

Line 7: בגבורות מעשיו = "in the mighty acts of his deeds." עד עולמי עד = "for eternal centuries" (lit. "forever and ever"). כול לשון = "every tongue" — echoes Isaiah 45:23.

Line 8: לבבם אחד = "their heart/mind [as] one" — the eschatological unity of humankind under God.

Line 9: ועבודת הצדק = "and the service of justice." פלג גבולותם = "he divided/apportioned their territories" — cf. Deut 32:8 (Table of Nations theology).

Line 10: ממשל הטוב = "the dominion of goodness" (scribal cancellation of {הצדק} suggests revision during copying). וירם כסא = "and he will raise the throne" — the throne of the eschatological king or of God himself.

Source Colophon

Source: Hebrew. Cave 4, Qumran. PAM 43.245 (ROC 371). Editors: E.G. Chazon and M.E. Stone (preliminary); R. Eisenman and M. Wise, DSSU (1992). Transcription: García Martínez and Tigchelaar, DSSE (1997–1999), vol. 2.

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