[...] they despised, and to the words of your mouth they did not listen [...] it will be for ever, and his seed for the generations after them [...]

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

[...] they despised, and to the words of your mouth [they did not listen ...]
[...] it will be for [ev]er, and his seed for the generations after th[em ...]
[...] {which} from the reproache[s of ...]

Colophon

Text: 4Q481e (4QNarrative H, also designated ROC 194), Cave 4. Three lines only. Published by Erik Larson and Lawrence Schiffman in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XXII (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), pp. 321–322, pl. XXIX.

Despite its brevity, 4Q481e preserves a theologically coherent unit. Line 1 is a prophetic indictment: "they despised" (בזו) and "to the words of your mouth they did not listen" (לדברי פיכה לא שמעו) — a formulation that echoes the Deuteronomic pattern of Israel's disobedience to divine speech (cf. Jer 7:13: "I spoke to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not listen"). The subject ("they") is unidentified; the address "your mouth" (פיכה) is second-person singular, suggesting the speaker addresses God or a prophetic figure. Line 2 shifts to promise: "it will be for ever, and his seed for the generations after them" — the third-person pivot ("his seed") introduces an individual whose legacy endures despite the disobedience of others. This binary — the unfaithful many and the enduring remnant seed — is a signature pattern of Qumran sectarian theology. Line 3 preserves the word "reproaches" (מחרפות, root חרף), suggesting the enduring one faces or transcends communal shame.

The text is on the same scroll as 4Q481b and 4Q481c (PAM 43.550) and shares their Cave 4 provenance and Larson-Schiffman editio princeps.

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. 964.

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Source Text

4Q481e — Hebrew Fragment

Hebrew transcription from García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, p. 964 (Brill, 1997–1999). Square brackets indicate lacunae or restorations. Braces { } indicate scribal cancellation.

[…  ]…[ בזו לדברי פיכה ]לא שמעו    1
]…[ל]עו[לם יהיה וזרעו [… לדרות אחריה]ם    2
[… ]…[. }אשר{ מחרפו]ת    3

Notes

Line 1: בזו = "they despised" (root בזה, third-person plural perfect). לדברי פיכה לא שמעו = "to the words of your mouth they did not listen" — cf. Jeremiah 7:13.

Line 2: לעולם יהיה = "it will be for ever." וזרעו = "and his seed" — a sudden singular amid a context of collective failure; the individual whose seed endures is unidentified. לדרות אחריהם = "for the generations after them."

Line 3: {אשר} — the word אשר ("which/who") is bracketed by the editor as a scribal cancellation (the scribe wrote it and struck it through). מחרפות = "reproaches / insults" (root חרף, plural construct). The sense of this line — that the enduring figure faces reproaches — connects to the suffering-servant and righteous-sufferer traditions.

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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