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Apocryphal Lamentations A

✦ ─── ⟐ ─── ✦

4Q450–4Q453, from the Hebrew

This page gathers four separate small manuscripts from Qumran Cave 4, numbered 4Q450 to 4Q453. Qimron prints each one as a single fragment. Only 4Q450 is a lament: Qimron calls it "Lament" (קינה), and it says "there is no angu[ish]", tells that youths mocked, and speaks of something poured out on the ground and of "anguish of soul". He calls 4Q451 and 4Q452 "Prayer" (תפילה) and gives 4Q453 no title, so the title "Apocryphal Lamentations A" is the library's and not his. 4Q451 speaks to God of "your great name, and let it not be profaned", asks him to "give them into the hand of your beloved ones", and names his wonders and the might of his right hand. 4Q452 cries "my God, how great you are" and speaks of the mighty deeds of God, and 4Q453 keeps only two words: "How have you delayed". Qimron dates 4Q450 to the Hasmonean period, 4Q451 to its end, and 4Q452 to the end of the Hasmonean or the start of the Herodian period. Esther Chazon first published all four.

4Q450 fragment 1

1 [ … like our pai]ns, and there is no angu[ish like our anguish … ]

2 [ … ] and youths mocked [us … ]

3 [ … ] you poured out on the ground [our liver … ]

4 [ … ] anguish of soul and [ … ]

5 [ … ]◦◦◦◦◦◦[ … ]

4Q451 fragment 1

01 [ … Act for the sake of]

1 your great [na]me, and let it not be profaned. [ … Arise against your enemies,]

2 and give them into the hand of your beloved ones for destruc[tion, and redeem us with your signs]

3 and with your wonders, and the might of your right hand[ … ]

4 [ … ]l◦[ … ]

4Q452 fragment 1

(top margin)

1 [ … my Go]d, how great you are[ … ]

2 [ … ] the mighty deeds of G[od … ]

3 [ … ]l[ … ]

4Q453 fragment 1

(top margin)

1 How have you delayed[ … ]

2 [ … ]◦[ … ]

Colophon

A Good Works Translation from the Hebrew of 4Q450, 4Q451, 4Q452 and 4Q453. It was made directly from Elisha Qimron's composite text, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, vol. 3 (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2015), pp. 190–191, read from the pages as reprinted in Qimron's The Qumran Texts: Composite Edition (Zenodo, 2020, doi:10.5281/zenodo.3737950, CC BY 4.0). Every fragment Qimron prints for these four manuscripts is translated here; for 4Q450 he mentions two tiny fragments and prints one. Words in square brackets are restorations printed by Qimron. ◦ marks a letter too damaged to read, and … marks a gap. The verb ti'te'u in 4Q450, line 2, is rendered "mocked" from its context. In 4Q450, line 3, only the first letter, k, of the word Qimron restores as "our liver" survives. No English translation was used. This translation replaces an earlier one that was made before the edition's Hebrew could be read.

Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church, with AI-assisted translation.

© 2026 Tianmu Anglican Church. This English translation is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: you may share and adapt it for non-commercial use with credit to the Good Works Library, tianmu.org. The source text keeps its own terms. For other uses, see Rights and Reuse.

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Source Text: קינה ותפילות (4Q450–4Q453)

The Hebrew as printed in Qimron, vol. 3, pp. 190–191. Square brackets enclose gaps and Qimron's restorations. ◦ marks an illegible letter. A dot above a letter (ׄ) marks a damaged letter read with confidence, a small circle above (֯) a doubtful reading, and a bar above (̄) a letter that could also be read as a similar one. Half-brackets ⸢ ⸣ mark damaged skin or faded ink, and an asterisk marks a word for which Qimron offers another reading in his notes. Line numbers follow the edition.

4Q450 קטע 1

1 [ כמכאו]י֯בינו ואין ד̄אב֯[ון כדאבוננו ]

2 [ ]וׄנערימ תעתׄעו ב֯[נו ]

3 [ ]שפכׄת לארצ כׄ[בדנו ]

4 [ ]ד֯אבון נפש ו[ ]

5 [ ]◦◦◦◦◦◦[ ]

4Q451 קטע 1

01 [ עשה למען]

1 [ש]מׄכׄהׄ ⸢[ה]⸣גדול ואל יחלׄ[ קום על אויביך]

2 ותנם ביד ידידיכה לכל[ה ופדנו באותותיכה]

3 ו֯בׄמופתיכה ועזוז יׄמׄיׄנׄכׄ[ה ]

4 [ ]לׄ◦[ ]

4Q452 קטע 1

(שוליים עליונים)

1 [ אלו]הׄי מה גדלׄתׄ[ה ]

2 [ ]אׄת גבורות א[לוהים ]

3 [ ]לׄ[ ]

4Q453 קטע 1

(שוליים עליונים)

1 *איׄככה התאחרתׄ[ ]

2 [ ]◦[ ]

Source Colophon

Transcribed from the rendered pages of the CC BY 4.0 composite edition (Zenodo, 2020) of Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, vol. 3 (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2015), pp. 190–191. Qimron's introductions: 4Q450 ("Lament") is two tiny fragments in a Hasmonean hand, of which he prints one; 4Q451 ("Prayer") is a single fragment in a hand from the end of the Hasmonean period; 4Q452 ("Prayer") is a tiny fragment in a hand from the end of the Hasmonean or the start of the Herodian period; 4Q453 (no title) is a single fragment with two words. First edition: Esther Chazon, DJD XXIX, pp. 395–397 (4Q450), 399–400 (4Q451), 401 (4Q452) and 403 (4Q453).

Qimron's notes, in brief:

  • 4Q450, line 1: "[like our pai]ns … [like our anguish]" is his own new restoration, after Lamentations 1:12, "if there is pain like my pain"; compare also line 4.
  • 4Q450, line 2: compare the Festival Prayers, 4Q509 fragment 16, line 5 (vol. 2, p. 396).
  • 4Q450, line 3: "our l[iver]" is restored after Lamentations 2:11, "my liver is poured out on the ground", as Ariel and Yuditsky read; or, reading the first letter as m, "our g[all]" (m[rrtnw]), after Job 16:13, "he pours out my gall on the ground".
  • 4Q451, fragment 1: it seems that the right-hand margin survives, as Strugnell thought.
  • 4Q451, lines 01–1: "Act for the sake of … let it not be profaned" is his own new restoration, after Isaiah 48:9–11; yḥl is read yeḥal, "be profaned". Other proposals are in Chazon's commentary.
  • 4Q451, line 2: compare the Damascus Covenant, chapter 1, lines 32–33 (vol. 1, p. 6), "and he did not give them over to destruction".
  • 4Q451, lines 2–3: compare Jeremiah 32:21, "with signs and with wonders and with a strong hand".
  • 4Q451, line 3: "and the might of your right hand" means "with the strength of your right hand"; compare the Hodayot 23:8 (vol. 1, p. 96), "with the right hand of your strength".
  • 4Q452, lines 1–2: "my God" and "God" are his own new restorations.
  • 4Q452, line 1: "how great you are".
  • 4Q452, line 2: the line could begin "who can utter", after Psalm 106:2, "who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD".
  • 4Q453, line 1: 'ykkh may also be read as two words, 'y kkh; in the language of the scrolls, as in biblical Hebrew, 'ykkh is used alongside 'ykh and 'yk, "how".

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