Even while they are in the lands of their enemies, I do not spurn them and do not reject them [...] And the fullness was [...] hidden things. And he opened their ears, and they heard pro[found things].
(Two fragments of a single Cave 4 manuscript. Fragment 1 centers on an explicit quotation of Leviticus 26:44; Fragment 2 introduces eschatological vocabulary — the jubilee's completion and Belial's defeat.)
Fragment 1
[...] ... them.
And God remembered his word which he spoke,
saying: "Even while they are in the lands of their[r] enemies,
I do not spurn them and do not reject them
to the point of destroying them,
so as to break my covenant
and my steadfast love from them."
And the fullness was [...]
hidden things.
And he opened their ears,
and they heard pro[found things ...]
Fragment 2
[...] ... [...]
[...] the completion of the jubi[lee ...]
[...] and he will rebuke Belial [...]
[...] ... except the days wh[ich ...]
[...] their enemies against them [...]
[...] first ... [...]
Colophon
Text: 4Q463 (4QNarrative D, also designated ROC 441), Cave 4. Two fragments. Published by M.S. Smith in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XIX (Oxford: Clarendon, 1995), pp. 211–214, pl. XXVII.
The text's theological center is the explicit quotation of Leviticus 26:44 — one of the most consoling passages in the Holiness Code. The Levitical verse is part of the great covenant curse-and-blessing section: after cataloguing the consequences of disobedience (exile, devastation), God affirms that even in the worst exile he will not completely reject Israel. The Qumran author has God "remember his word" (ויזכור אל את דברו) in exactly the terms of Leviticus 26:42–45, where God's remembering is the pivot from judgment to restoration. The text then speaks of a complementary divine act: opening "their ears" to hear "hidden things" (נסתרות) and "profound things" (עמקות). The vocabulary of hidden/revealed things (נסתרות / נגלות) is characteristic of Qumran sectarian epistemology — the revelation of the true meaning of Torah is what distinguishes the elect community (cf. 1QS V, VIII; CD III).
Fragment 2 shifts to eschatological countdown: the completion of the jubilee (תום היובל), associated with a decisive action against Belial. The jubilee periodization appears in the Damascus Document (CD IV) and the Apocryphon of Jeremiah C (4Q390) — the 490-year / seventy-weeks / jubilee schema for measuring the end of the exile. The "rebuking of Belial" (ויגער בליעל) at jubilee's end connects to the War Scroll's final battle theology. The few remaining words — "except the days," "their enemies against them," "first" — suggest a temporal exception clause in the eschatological timetable.
Translation: Good Works Translation from Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Leviticus 26:44 translated from Hebrew Masoretic Text (BHS). Fragment material consulted in García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–1999), vol. 2, pp. 940–941. All lacunae marked [...]; restored text in brackets follows the DSSE editors.
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Source Text
4Q463 — Hebrew Fragments 1–2
Hebrew transcription from García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, pp. 940–941 (Brill, 1997–1999). Square brackets indicate lacunae or restorations. Fragment 1 contains an explicit quotation of Leviticus 26:44.
Frag. 1
]…[.דמה 1
vacat
ויזכור אל את דברו אשר אמר 2
גם בהיותם בארצות אויביהמ]ה לא מאסתים 3
]ולא געלתים לכלות[ם להפר בריתי וחסדי מהמה 3
ויהי מלא ]…[ 4
]…[ נסתרות 4
]…[ואוזניהמה פתח וישמעו ע]מקות 5
Frag. 2
]…[.עים ה 1
]…[תום היוב]ל 2
]…[ויגער 3
]…[בליעל 3
]…[ח מלבד הימים א 4
]…[עליהמ]ה 5
]…[ריאשון …]…[ 6
Notes
Frag. 1, lines 2–4: Explicit quotation of Leviticus 26:44: גם בהיותם בארץ אויביהם לא מאסתים ולא גאלתים לכלותם להפר בריתי אתם, "Even while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, and I will not abhor them, so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them." The Qumran text reads: לא מאסתים ולא געלתים לכלותם להפר בריתי וחסדי מהמה — slightly variant: חסדי (my steadfast love) instead of the MT's בריתי אתם (my covenant with them).
Frag. 1, lines 4–5: נסתרות = "hidden things." ע[מקות] = "profound/deep things." The terminology of revealed secrets is central to Qumran epistemology.
Frag. 2, line 2: תום היובל = "the completion of the jubilee." The jubilee periodization schema for measuring eschatological time.
Frag. 2, line 3: ויגער בליעל = "and he will rebuke Belial." The eschatological defeat of the demonic adversary, anticipated in the War Scroll and the Community Rule.
Source Colophon
Source: Hebrew. Cave 4, Qumran. DJD XIX (M.S. Smith, 1995). Transcription: García Martínez and Tigchelaar, DSSE (1997–1999), vol. 2.
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