11Q15, 11Q16 and xQAqeda, from the Hebrew

Qimron prints two small Cave 11 texts, each written in a hand of the Herodian period and each called simply "Prayer" (תפילה). From 11Q15 he prints one fragment of six broken lines, spoken to God: it speaks of what God's hands established, which Qimron restores as "your sanctuary", of "your chosen ones by their names", of someone's glory, works and toil, and it says that God created every spirit; Qimron completes the last line as "and to your wisdom there is no measure". From 11Q16 he prints one fragment of four lines: God formed his works, knew them before he created them, and, in Qimron's restoration, declared their end before they were made. On the same page Qimron prints a third small fragment, which he calls xQAqeda: in four broken lines God speaks to Abraham, "Isaac his son" and the command "take" are named, and the angel of the LORD appears, as in the binding of Isaac in Genesis 22. It is a separate text, not part of 11Q15 or 11Q16, and its cave is unknown (the x in its name). Florentino García Martínez and Eibert Tigchelaar first published 11Q15 and 11Q16; Esther and Hanan Eshel published the third fragment.

11Q15, Fragment 1

1 [ … ]ylnw bš[ … ]

2 [ … your sanctuary, wh]ich your hands established [ … ]

3 [ … your na]me, and you see from [ … ]

4 [ … ] your chosen ones by their names ◦[ … ]

5 [ … ] his glory and his works and his toil b[ … ]

6 [ … ] you created every spirit, and to [your] wis[dom there is no measure]

11Q16, Fragment 1

1 [ … For] you formed [ … ]

2 [ … and you knew a]ll his works before [you created him … ]

3 [ … ] in your truth, vessels of [knowledge … from the beginning]

4 [You declared its en]d be[fore you made it]

xQAqeda

1 [ … And] God [said] to Abraha[m … ]

2 [ … to I]saac his son, "Take the [wood … ]

3 [ … ] and the angel of the LORD [ … ]

4 [ … ]l[ … ]

Colophon

A Good Works Translation from the Hebrew of 11Q15 and 11Q16, with the fragment xQAqeda that Qimron prints after them. 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), p. 249, read from the page as reprinted in Qimron's The Qumran Texts: Composite Edition (Zenodo, 2020, doi:10.5281/zenodo.3737950, CC BY 4.0). Words in square brackets are restorations printed by Qimron. ◦ marks a letter too damaged to read, and … marks a gap. Where only a few letters survive, they are given in transliteration. In 11Q15, line 3, the first letter of wtr'h, "and you see", could also be read as a yod. In line 6 the scribe added a small w, "and", above the line, and Qimron completes wlḥw as ulḥokhmatkha, "and to your wisdom". 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: תפילה (11Q15), תפילה (11Q16), xQAqeda

The Hebrew as printed in Qimron, vol. 3, p. 249. 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. Carets (^ ^) enclose a letter written above the line, ׀ marks words written joined, and … marks an unrestored space inside a restoration. Line numbers follow the edition.

11Q15 קטע 1

1 ]ילנו בשׄ[ ]

2 [ מקדשכה א]שׄר כוננו ידיכׄהׄ[ ]

3 [ ש]מׄכׄה ו̄תראה מןׄ[ ]

4 ]בחיׄריכה בשמותם ◦[ ]

5 ]כבודו ומעשיו ועמלו בׄ[ ]

6 ]אתה בראתׄה כוׄל רוחׄ׀^ו^לחׄו֯[כמתכה אין מדה]

11Q16 קטע 1

1 [ כי]א֯ אתה יצרת֯[ה ]

2 [ ותדע כו]ל֯ מעשיו בטרם[ בראתו ]

3 ]בׄאמתכה כלי[ דעת … מראשית]

4 [הגדתה אח]ר֯יׄתו בטׄ[רם עשיתו]

xQAqeda

1 [ויאמר ]אלהים לאברהׄ[ם ]

2 [ אל י]שחק בנו קח את הׄ[עצים ]

3 ]וׄמלאך י֯הוה [ ]

4 ]ל֯[ ]

Source Colophon

Transcribed from the rendered page 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), p. 249. Qimron's introductions: 11Q15 is a text in a hand of the Herodian period, first edited by Florentino García Martínez and Eibert Tigchelaar in DJD XXIII, pp. 253–256; 11Q16 is likewise a text in a Herodian hand, first edited by the same scholars in DJD XXIII, pp. 257–258. Qimron gives each the title "Prayer" and prints one fragment of each. The fragment xQAqeda was published by Esther and Hanan Eshel ("New Fragments from Qumran", DSD 12 [2005], pp. 142–144). In 11Q15, line 6, Qimron marks the words ruaḥ and ulḥw as written together without a space (shown here by ׀), with the w added above the line. He gives no cave for xQAqeda; it is a separate text, printed after 11Q16 only.

Qimron's notes, in brief:

• 11Q15, line 2: the restoration was proposed by Ariel and Yuditsky after Exodus 15:17, "the sanctuary, LORD, that your hands established".
• Line 4: García Martínez and Tigchelaar read beḥadrekha, "in your chambers"; the word beḥir[ekha], "your chosen ones", comes again in fragment 2, line 4.
• Line 6: on "you created every spirit", compare the Hodayot 9:10–11 (vol. 1, p. 68). "And to [your wis]dom [there is no measure]" is a new restoration after the Hodayot 17:17 (vol. 1, p. 84).
• 11Q16, line 2: a new restoration after the Hodayot 9:9 (vol. 1, p. 68).
• Lines 3–4: compare Isaiah 46:10, "telling the end from the beginning, and from of old what has not yet been done".

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