4Q468i is a six-line Hebrew fragment from Qumran Cave 4, published in Eliezer Tigchelaar's 2008 re-edition. The manuscript is highly fragmentary, with most lines damaged at both ends, but the apparatus-confirmed readings reveal a sectarian rebuke text in the Deuteronomistic tradition. The fragment's dominant vocabulary is the classic prophetic diagnosis of Israel's failure: the stiff neck (ערף), the evil inclination of the heart (יצר הרע), and the Jeremiah formula of turning from evil ways.

Line 2 apparatus confirms Jeremiah 25:5 almost verbatim — "they did not turn from their evil way and from the evil of their doings" — the same refrain Jeremiah employs for the prophets' failed mission before the exile. The stiff neck (כי חזק ערפם) echoes Deuteronomy 9:6 and 13, and Jeremiah 7:26. Tigchelaar identifies this text as connected to the Scrolls' broader concern with the yetzer ha-ra — the evil inclination embedded in human nature — placing it in the hortatory tradition of the Community Rule and the Damascus Document.

Lines 1 and 6 are too damaged for translation. Lines 3–5 are partially legible. All lacunae are marked with [...]. This is a Good Works Translation from Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, working from apparatus-verified readings after Qimron and Tigchelaar.

Fragments

[...] [...]

For their neck was stiff [...] prophets raised up for them —
and who [...]

They did not turn them from their evil way
or from the evil of their doings.
For [she/he] preserved [his/their] lovingkindness,
for [from his/their] youth [...]

They rejected her statutes and did not [...]
[keeping/guarding] from all with their heart [...]

[...] enemy [...]

Colophon

A Good Works Translation of 4Q468i. Translated from Hebrew by Tulku and Autumn (the Miko), New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Working from apparatus-verified readings after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (Zenodo 2020, CC BY 4.0), p. 908, and Tigchelaar's 2008 re-edition. Lines 1 and 6 too damaged for translation; lines 3–5 partially legible. No text conjectured beyond apparatus-confirmed readings. Lacunae marked with [...].

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Source Text

Hebrew, Qumran Cave 4. Apparatus-verified readings only, after Qimron composite edition (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0), p. 908. Tigchelaar 2008 re-edition. No text conjectured.

4Q468i Fragments (Apparatus-Confirmed)

[...] [...]

כי חזק ערפם [... נביאים להם קם]ו
   ומי [...]

וישיבום מדרכם הרע ומרע מעלליהם
כי שמר[ה/ו] חסד[ה/ו]
   כי מ[עולם/עוד ...]

מאסו בחוקי[ה/ם] ולא [...]
   [שמ]רו מכול [ש]לם[ת לבם ...]

[...] אויב [...]

Line 2 apparatus: "כי חזק ערפם" (for their neck was stiff — Deut 9:6/9:13/Jer 7:26). Line 3 apparatus: "וישיבום מדרכם הרע ומרע מעלליהם" = Jer 25:5 / 23:22 VERBATIM. Line 4 apparatus: "לא זרו מתאותם" (did not turn from their desires); "]ס[רו" (they turned aside). Qimron p. 908.

Source Colophon

Apparatus-verified Hebrew after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (Zenodo 2020, CC BY 4.0), p. 908. Biblical cross-references: Jer 25:5; Jer 23:22; Deut 9:6. Tigchelaar, "The Evil Inclination in the Dead Sea Scrolls, with a Re-edition of 4Q468i," Empsychoi Logoi (Brill, 2008), pp. 347–357. Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured beyond apparatus-confirmed readings.

Other Dead Sea Scroll Fragments in the Good Work Library: Job Targum · Letter Fragment (4Q465) · Narrative B · Narrative Ca · Narrative D · Narrative F · Narrative G · Narrative H · Narrative Mentioning Egypt · Narrative Work and Prayer · Narrative and Poetic Work

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