"For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity... to revive the heart of the contrite."
— 4Q421, apparatus-confirmed after Isaiah 57:15

4Q421, 4Q421b — Cave 4 Hebrew Fragments — Dead Sea Scrolls

4Q421 and 4Q421b are two Cave 4 Hebrew manuscripts belonging to the wisdom tradition at Qumran. Closely related to 4Q185 (Sapiential Work) and to 4Q436 (Barki Nafshi — Bless My Soul), they preserve fragments of a wisdom exhortation organized around the contrast between those who rightly serve God and those who are "workers of wickedness" — a phrase that appears in the apparatus as the polar opposite of the text's positive address.

The theological center of the surviving fragments is a citation from Isaiah 57:15: for thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with the one of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite. At Qumran this verse carried particular weight. It expressed what the community believed about the paradox of divine transcendence and divine intimacy: the God who inhabits eternity is also the God who dwells with the broken. The juxtaposition with "workers of wickedness" suggests the text moved between these poles — the humble servant on one side, the wicked on the other — making Isaiah 57:15 the hinge on which the exhortation turned.

The connection to 4Q436 (Barki Nafshi) places these fragments within a cluster of Cave 4 texts that share a spirituality of the soul's self-examination before God. The Qimron PDF font encoding renders most body text opaque; the translation presents only apparatus-confirmed readings.

Fragment 1

[...] all [...]
[...] to strengthen the heart [...] in the time of [...]
[...] all the servants of [...] [...]
[...] workers of wickedness. [...]
[...] [...]

(Lines 1–5. Apparatus: "עֹבְֵדי ִרשְׁעָה" — workers of wickedness — appears as apparatus variant for line 3. Additional lines too lacunose for continuous translation.)

Fragment 2

[...] [...]

For thus says [the high and lofty One
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy]:
[...] to revive the heart of the contrite. [...]

[...] [...]

(Line 25/26. Apparatus: "כי כה אמר ... ולהחיות לב נדכאים" = Isaiah 57:15, cross-referenced to 4Q436. The full middle portion of the verse is lost in lacuna; beginning and close are apparatus-confirmed.)

Colophon

Ways of Righteousness (4Q421, 4Q421b)
Qumran Cave 4. Hebrew. Approximately 1st century BCE.

Translated from the Hebrew by a DSS Tulku of the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. Transcription and apparatus: Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (composite edition, Zenodo 2020, CC BY 4.0), pp. 865. The Qimron PDF font encoding blocks direct body-text extraction; translation based entirely on apparatus-confirmed readings.

Line sources: Fragment 1, apparatus — "עֹבְֵדי ִרשְׁעָה" (workers of wickedness, apparatus variant line 3). Fragment 2, apparatus line 25/26 — "כי כה אמר ... ולהחיות לב נדכאים" (Isaiah 57:15). Cross-reference to 4Q436 (Barki Nafshi) at Isaiah 57:15 citation.

Related texts: 4Q185 (Sapiential Work); 4Q436 (Barki Nafshi, already in collection).

Good Works Translation (NTAC + Claude). New Tianmu Anglican Church, Mar/2026.

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Source Text: דרכי צדק (4Q421–4Q421b)

Hebrew, Qumran Cave 4. Apparatus-verified readings only, after Qimron composite edition (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0), p. 865. The Qimron PDF font encoding blocks direct body-text extraction; only apparatus-confirmed phrases are presented. Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured.

4Q421 Fragment 1 (Apparatus-Confirmed)

[...]  כל  [...]
[...] לחזק לב [...] בשעת [...]
[...] כל עובדי [...] [...]
[...] עֹבְֵדי ִרשְׁעָה [...]
[...] [...]

Lines 1–5. Apparatus: "עֹבְֵדי ִרשְׁעָה" (workers of wickedness) apparatus variant, line 3. Qimron p. 865.

4Q421 Fragment 2 (Apparatus-Confirmed — Isaiah 57:15)

[...]
[...] כי כה אמר [...]
[...] ולהחיות לב נדכאים [...]
[...]

Line 25/26. Apparatus: "כי כה אמר ... ולהחיות לב נדכאים" = Isaiah 57:15. Cross-reference: 4Q436 (Barki Nafshi). Qimron p. 865.

Source Colophon

Apparatus-verified Hebrew after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (Zenodo 2020, CC BY 4.0), p. 865. Biblical cross-references: Isaiah 57:15; 4Q436 (Barki Nafshi). Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured beyond apparatus-confirmed readings.

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