[...] he will bring back his scattered ones to the land [...] large and mighty, their camps [...] like the wilderness [...]

(Six fragmentary lines of a single column. The text is too lacunose for continuous translation; the surviving vocabulary is presented as attested.)

[...] he will bring back his scattered ones to the land of [...]
[...] lar[ge] and mighty, their camps [...]
[...] ... which [...]
[...] like the wilderness, and [...]
[...] hammering all [...]
[...] his ... and [...]

Colophon

Text: 4Q481b (4QNarrative G, also designated ROC 194), Cave 4. One column of six lines. Published by Erik Larson and Lawrence Schiffman in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XXII (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), pp. 311–312, pl. XXVIII.

The most legible line is the first: he will bring back his scattered ones (נדחיו) to the land — a phrase carrying strong resonances with biblical ingathering theology (Isaiah 56:8: "I will gather yet others to him, besides those already gathered"). The next line speaks of something large and mighty (רב ועצום) and their camps (מחניהם), possibly describing the returning host or an opposing army. Lines 4–5 preserve a comparison to the wilderness (כמדבר) and a hammering or striking action (מפטיש, root פטש). The genre is uncertain — the language suits a narrative, a prophecy of return, or a military-theological hymn. Without more text, no further determination is possible.

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, p. 962.

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Source Text

4Q481b — Hebrew Fragment

Hebrew transcription from García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, p. 962 (Brill, 1997–1999). Square brackets indicate lacunae or restorations.

]… י[שיב נדחיו לארץ    1
]… ר[ב ועצום מחניהם    2
]…[…ה אשר    3
]…[. כמדבר ואת    4
]…[ מפטיש כול    5
]…[מיו ו    6

Notes

Line 1: נדחיו = "his scattered ones / his dispersed" (root נדח). The phrase ישיב נדחיו, "he will bring back his scattered ones," echoes Isaiah 56:8 (מְקַבֵּץ נִדְחֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל) and the standard language of eschatological ingathering.

Line 2: רב ועצום, "large and mighty" — a common biblical hendiadys describing a powerful host (cf. Deut 9:14, Joel 1:6). מחניהם = "their camps."

Line 5: מפטיש = "from a hammer" or participial "hammering/striking" (root פטש). In Jeremiah 23:29 the word of God is "like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces." Whether this is a hostile or divine image here is unclear.

Source Colophon

Source: Hebrew. Cave 4, Qumran. DJD XXII (Larson & Schiffman, 1996). Transcription: García Martínez and Tigchelaar, DSSE (1997–1999), vol. 2.

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