"Is there any pain like my pain? My liver is poured out on the earth."
— 4Q450, apparatus-confirmed after Lamentations 1:12 and 2:11
4Q450, 4Q451, 4Q452, 4Q453 — Apocryphal Lamentations A — Dead Sea Scrolls, Cave 4
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, probably related by genre and liturgical context rather than by belonging to a single scroll. Together they form a small tradition of Lamentations-dependent poetry, and their shared vocabulary justifies their grouping as Apocryphal Lamentations A, in counterpart to the already-archived 4Q501 (Apocryphal Lamentations B).
The anchor of 4Q450 is Lamentations 1:12 and 2:11. The question Is there any pain like my pain? — Lam 1:12, one of the most recognized cries of the Hebrew Bible — appears here in Cave 4, either as direct citation or as deliberate echo. It is paired with My liver is poured out on the earth, drawn from Lam 2:11, the poet's description of physical collapse at the sight of Jerusalem's ruin. That 4Q450 contains both phrases in proximity confirms that this manuscript stood in the Lamentations tradition — not merely echoing its vocabulary but building on its characteristic movement from the cry of suffering (is there any pain like my pain?) to the physical dissolution of the body (my liver poured out). The Qumran community used the book of Lamentations liturgically; finding its words here in Cave 4 confirms their devotional presence at the site.
4Q451 turns from lament toward the Exodus confession. With signs and wonders and with a strong hand — the formulaic phrase of Deuteronomy 26:8 and Nehemiah 9:10 — appears alongside and did not give them to destruction and your mighty right hand. This is the characteristic Qumranic move: in the depths of present suffering, invoke the God of the Exodus. The God who acted then with signs and wonders and a strong hand is the same God to whom the community appeals now. Lament and memory of redemption are not in contradiction — the Exodus memory is what makes petition possible.
4Q452 preserves a single liturgical question: Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD? — Psalm 106:2, a verse that opens a long review of Israel's history from Egypt through the wilderness to the present. In the context of this cluster, the verse functions as the turn at the center of the lament: the community is suffering, but the God of the mighty deeds is still God.
4Q453 preserves the cry that opens the book of Lamentations itself: Eikhakhah — How? — the Hebrew lament formula that asks, before anything else is said, how this could have happened. How has the city fallen. How has the community come to this. The single word How carries a library of grief.
The Qimron PDF font encoding renders most body text opaque; the translation presents only apparatus-confirmed readings. Lacunae dominate all four manuscripts.
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 a DSS Tulku of 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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Source Text: קינות חיצוניות א (4Q450–4Q453)
Hebrew, Qumran Cave 4. Apparatus-verified readings only, after Qimron composite edition (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0), pp. 888–889. The Qimron PDF font encoding blocks direct body-text extraction; only apparatus-confirmed phrases are presented. Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured.
4Q450 (Apparatus-Confirmed)
[...]
[...] אם יש מכאוב כמכאבי [...]
[...]
[...] נשפך לארץ כבדי [...]
ישפך לארץ מררתי [...]
[...]
(4Q450 Fragment 1 — Lamentations 1:12 and 2:11 echoes confirmed in apparatus, p. 888.)
4Q451 (Apparatus-Confirmed)
[...]
[...] ולא נתנם לכלה [...]
[...] ובאתות ובמופתים וביד חזקה [...]
בימין עוזכה [...]
[...]
(4Q451 Fragments 1–2 — Deuteronomy 26:8 / Nehemiah 9:10 formula; apparatus p. 888.)
4Q452 (Apparatus-Confirmed)
[...]
[...] מי ימלל גבורות ה' [...]
[...]
(4Q452 Fragment 1 — Psalm 106:2 verbatim; apparatus p. 889.)
4Q453 (Apparatus-Confirmed)
[...]
[...] איככה [...]
[...]
(4Q453 Fragment 1 — Lamentations lament formula; apparatus p. 889.)
Source Colophon
Apparatus-verified Hebrew after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (Zenodo 2020, CC BY 4.0), pp. 888–889. Biblical cross-references: Lam 1:12, 2:11; Deut 26:8; Neh 9:10; Ps 106:2. Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured beyond apparatus-confirmed readings.
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