4Q160 (4QVisSam) is a short Cave 4 manuscript belonging to the pesher tradition — but unlike every other Qumran pesher, it does not treat a classical prophet. It treats a narrative from the historical books: 1 Samuel 3, the night in the temple at Shiloh when the young Samuel received his first revelation and God announced the doom of Eli's priestly house. The text is preserved in five small fragments; its genre is unmistakable: it rewrites the Samuel narrative with interpretive expansions woven into the telling, not set off by the standard pesher formula. Scholars classify it as a narrative pesher or rewritten scripture; its closest Qumran parallel is the Genesis Apocryphon.
The choice of text is significant. The condemnation of Eli — whose sons had grown fat on the offerings of the LORD and would die on a single day — was a ready template for the sect's critique of a corrupt priesthood. The Vision does not name its contemporary targets, but the condemnation language would have been unmistakable to any Qumran reader who saw the Jerusalem priesthood as a second house of Eli. Fragment 1 is the most substantial, covering the morning after the vision when Eli questions Samuel; Fragments 3 and 5 preserve only isolated words.
Translated from the Hebrew of 4Q160 by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. Primary publication: J. M. Allegro, DJD V (Clarendon, 1968), pp. 9–11. Critical text: García Martínez and Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–98), pp. 318–319.
Fragment 1
[Fragment 1 is the best-preserved portion, roughly corresponding to 1 Samuel 3:14–18 — the morning after the vision, when Eli questions Samuel. Brackets mark lacunae; restorations of clearly identifiable biblical text are indicated by brackets.]
[...in Shi]loh [...] the temple of the LORD [...] and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down [in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was].
[...] until the morning. And he opened [the doors of the house of the] LORD.
[...] and he was [afraid] to tell Eli the vision.
[Then Eli called] Samuel and said: Samuel, my son. [And he said:] Here I am.
[And he said:] What is the word [that the LORD] spoke to you? Do not hide [it] from me. [May God do so to you and more also, if you hide from me anything of all] the [words he spoke to] you.
[And Samuel told him every]thing and did not hide [anything] from him.
[And Eli said:] It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.
[...] for the iniquity of Eli['s house shall not be atoned] by sacrifice or by offering [for]ever.
Fragment 3
[Fragment 3 is small and fragmentary; the content circles back to the condemnation of Eli's sons — likely paraphrasing or expanding on 1 Samuel 2:22.]
[...] the sin of Eli [...]
[...] his sons [who lay] with the women [who served] at the entrance [of the tent of meeting] [...]
[...] for ever [...]
Fragment 5
[Fragment 5 preserves only isolated words. No continuous translation is possible.]
[...] truth [...] Israel [...]
Colophon
4Q160 (4QVisSam), Cave 4, Qumran. Hebrew, probably Herodian period (50 BCE–50 CE). Published by J. M. Allegro in DJD V: Qumrân Cave 4, I (Clarendon Press, 1968), pp. 9–11, pls. III–IV. Critical text: García Martínez and Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–98), pp. 318–319.
Translated from Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. Base text: García Martínez & Tigchelaar DSSE Hebrew transcription; DSSE English consulted as reference only. All lacunae marked with brackets. Restorations of clearly identifiable biblical text (1 Sam 3:14–18) are indicated by brackets.
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Source Text
4Q160 — 4QVisSam — Hebrew
Fragment 1
[...בְּשִׁי]לֹה [...] הֵיכַל יְהוָה [...] וְנֵר אֱלֹהִים טֶרֶם יִשְׁקַע
[...] וּשְׁמוּאֵל שֹׁכֵב [בְּהֵיכַל יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר שָׁם אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים]
[...] עַד הַבֹּקֶר [...] וַיִּפְתַּח [אֶת דַּלְתוֹת בֵּית] יְהוָה
[...] וַיִּירָא [שְׁמוּאֵל] מֵהַגִּיד [אֶת הַמַּרְאָה] אֶל עֵלִי
[וַיִּקְרָא עֵלִי] שְׁמוּאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל בְּנִי
[וַיֹּאמֶר] הִנֵּנִי
[וַיֹּאמֶר] מָה הַדָּבָר [אֲשֶׁר] דִּבֶּר אֵלֶיךָ אַל נָא [תְּכַחֵד] מִמֶּנִּי
[כֹּה יַעֲשֶׂה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים וְכֹה יוֹסִיף אִם תְּכַחֵד מִמֶּנִּי דָּבָר מִכָּל] הַ[דְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלֶיךָ]
[וַיַּגֶּד לוֹ שְׁמוּאֵל אֶת כָּל הַדְּבָרִים] וְלֹא כִחֵד מִמֶּנּוּ
[וַיֹּאמֶר] יְהוָה הוּא הַטּוֹב [בְּעֵינָיו] יַעֲשֶׂה
[...] כִּי עֲוֹן בֵּית עֵלִ[י לֹא יִתְכַּפֵּר] בְּזָבַח וּבְמִנְחָה [עַד] עוֹלָם
Fragment 3
[...] חַטַּאת עֵלִי [...]
[...] בָּנָיו [אֲשֶׁר שָׁכְבוּ אֶת] הַנָּשִׁים [הַצֹּבְאוֹת] פֶּתַח [אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד] [...]
[...] לְעוֹלָם [...]
Fragment 5
[...] אֱמֶת [...] יִשְׂרָאֵל [...]
Source Colophon
Hebrew text reconstructed from García Martínez & Tigchelaar DSSE (pp. 318–319) and DJD V (Allegro, 1968). Biblical text (1 Sam 3:14–18) restored in lacunae where clearly identifiable; all restorations bracketed. Fragments 2 and 4 too damaged for coherent transcription.
Other Historical Dead Sea Scrolls in the Good Work Library: Copper Scroll · Historical Text A (4Q248) · Historical Text A (4Q248) — Source Text · Historical Texts · Historical Texts (4Q331–4Q333) — Source Text · List of False Prophets · Proto-Esther
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