Four Cave 4 Hebrew manuscripts — 4Q450, 4Q451, 4Q452, and 4Q453 — preserve fragmentary lament compositions in direct dialogue with the book of Lamentations. They are distinct manuscripts, related by genre and liturgical context rather than belonging to a single scroll. Their shared vocabulary justifies their grouping as Apocryphal Lamentations A, in counterpart to 4Q501 (Apocryphal Lamentations B).

The anchor of 4Q450 is Lamentations 1:12 and 2:11: Is there any pain like my pain? and My liver is poured out on the earth. 4Q451 turns from lament toward Exodus confession — With signs and wonders and with a strong hand, the formulaic Deuteronomy 26:8 language of divine rescue. 4Q452 preserves Psalm 106:2: Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD? 4Q453 preserves Eikhakhah — How? — the opening lament formula of the book of Lamentations itself.

The Qimron PDF font encoding renders most body text opaque; the translation presents only apparatus-confirmed readings. Lacunae dominate all four manuscripts. This is a Good Works Translation from Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.

4Q450

Fragment 1

[...] [...]
[...] Is there any pain like my pain? [...]
[...] [...]
[...] My liver is poured out on the earth [...]
my gall poured out on the earth. [...]
[...] [...]

(Lines drawn from Lamentations 1:12 and 2:11. Additional lines too lacunose for continuous translation.)

4Q451

Fragment 1

[...] [...]
[...] and did not give them to destruction — [...]
[...] with signs and wonders [...]
and with a strong hand [...]
with your mighty right hand. [...]
[...] [...]

(Formulaic construction after Deuteronomy 26:8 / Nehemiah 9:10.)

4Q452

Fragment 1

[...] [...]
[...] Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD? [...]
[...] [...]

(Psalm 106:2 verbatim. Single recoverable line.)

4Q453

Fragment 1

[...] [...]
[...] How — [...]
[...] [...]

(איככה — the opening lament formula of the book of Lamentations; cf. Lam 1:1, 2:1, 4:1.)

Colophon

Apocryphal Lamentations A (4Q450, 4Q451, 4Q452, 4Q453)
Qumran Cave 4. Hebrew. Approximately 1st century BCE.

Translated from the Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. Transcription and apparatus: Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (composite edition, Zenodo 2020, CC BY 4.0), pp. 888–889. The Qimron PDF font encoding blocks direct body-text extraction; translation based entirely on apparatus-confirmed readings.

Line sources: 4Q450 — "אם יש מכאוב כמכאבי" (Lam 1:12 echo, apparatus p. 888); "נשפך לארץ כבדי" and "ישפך לארץ מררתי" (Lam 2:11, apparatus p. 888). 4Q451 — "ולא נתנם לכלה" (apparatus p. 888); "ובאתות ובמופתים וביד חזקה" (Deut 26:8/Neh 9:10, apparatus p. 888); "בימין עוזכה" (apparatus p. 888). 4Q452 — "מי ימלל גבורות ה'" (Ps 106:2 verbatim, apparatus p. 889). 4Q453 — "איככה" (apparatus p. 889).

Good Works Translation (NTAC + Claude). New Tianmu Anglican Church, Mar 2026.

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