"Blessed be the God of Israel, who created the lights and established their appointed times."
The Daily Prayers are a liturgical calendar text — morning and evening blessings organized by day of the month, set to the rhythm of the 364-day Qumran solar calendar. For each of the thirty days, a morning prayer opens the gates of light at dawn, and an evening prayer closes them at dusk. The rising and setting of the moon structures the count: light increases by one portion each day from the new moon through the full moon on day fifteen, then decreases by one portion each evening as the month wanes. The human congregation does not pray alone — the holy ones of light, the angelic company, stand at the celestial gates and bless alongside them.
The manuscript is extremely fragmentary. 4Q503 (DJD VII) consists of more than two hundred fragments, most preserving only isolated phrases. What survives makes the structure unmistakable: a community that consecrated time through daily blessing, every sunrise and sunset a liturgical threshold.
The title "Prayers of the Gates" reflects the text's most striking image — the gates of light (שַׁעֲרֵי אוֹר) that the congregation opens with prayer at dawn and closes at dusk, mirroring the heavenly gates through which the sun passes.
Fragment 1 — Day 4 (Evening)
[... evening of the fourth day of the month ...]
[...] the lot of light [...] four portions [...] they shall bless and say:
Blessed be the God of Israel [...] from evening [...] the great lights which he established [...]
[...] the holy ones [...] Amen, amen.
Fragment 3 — Day 5 (Morning)
[... on the fifth day ...]
[...] they shall open the gates of light [...] five portions of light [...]
[...] Blessed be the God of Israel who created morning, [who separated the light from the darkness ...] his holy ones who stand [...] from the rising of the sun [...]
[...] and they shall bless and say in response:
Blessed be [the God of Israel ...] the appointed seasons of day and night [...] Amen.
Fragment 7-9 — Day 14 (Evening; the Full Moon)
On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, at the rising of the full moon:
[...] fourteen portions of light [...] the great light that rules the night [...]
[...] they shall stand at the gates of light and bless and say:
Blessed be the God of Israel, who apportioned the light of the moon [to his people, to mark the seasons and the months ...]
[...] holy ones of light [...] and all the host of heaven shall bless [...]
[...] Amen, amen.
Fragment 10-12 — Day 16 (Evening; Waning Begins)
[... on the sixteenth ...] the lot of darkness grows [...]
[... they shall stand and bless and say:]
Blessed be the God of Israel who established darkness and light, and gave each its portion [...]
[...] the gates of light [...] from evening to evening [...] thirteen portions [...]
[...] holy ones of the eternal council [...] Amen.
Fragment 15-16 — Day 20 (Evening)
[... on the twentieth day of the month ...]
[...] ten portions of darkness [...] the lot of darkness [...]
[...] they shall bless [...] and say:
Blessed be the God of Israel [who walks with his people through the decrease of the moon ...] the holy ones of light [...]
[...] from the rising of the sun [...] Amen.
Fragment 29-30 — Evening Prayers (Day ~25)
[...] the holy ones of light stood [at the gates and blessed and said:]
Blessed be the God of Israel, king of glory, who created the heavens and established the earth [...]
[...] your holy ones declare your wonders at the gates of light [...]
[...] from one new moon to the [next] [...] appointed times [...] Amen, amen.
Fragment 37-38 — Closing Prayers (Day ~30)
[... on the thirtieth day of the month ...]
[...] the congregation of the holy ones [...] they shall bless and say:
Blessed be the God of Israel who separated between the holy and the common, between light and darkness, between the appointed times of day and the appointed times of night [...]
[...] from new moon [...] the lot of light goes out and the lot of darkness comes in, [and again returns from darkness to light ...]
[...] Amen [...] blessed be his name for ever.
Note on the Text
4Q503 is the most extensive liturgical calendar text from Qumran and one of the most fragmentary. The above preserves only surviving phrases from the larger fragment groups; the great majority of each prayer is lost. The underlying structure — two prayers per day, thirty days, morning and evening, light-portions counted alongside the moon — is recoverable from the pattern of fragments even where the words are gone.
The closest parallels in the collection are the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (angelic liturgy) and the Words of the Luminaries (daily communal prayer). Together these texts suggest a Qumran community whose daily life was saturated with liturgical time-keeping, every hour of the day a threshold between light and darkness, every threshold an occasion for blessing.
Colophon
Text: 4Q503 (Daily Prayers / Prayers of the Gates), Qumran Cave 4
Date: Late Second Temple period (ca. 1st century BCE)
Source language: Hebrew
Translation: Good Works Translation (NTAC + Tulku, 2026). Translated from the Hebrew transcription in García Martínez, F. & Tigchelaar, E.J.C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, Brill, 1997–98 (pp. 1006–1025); and Baillet, M., Qumrân Grotte 4, III (4Q482–4Q520), DJD VII, Oxford: Clarendon, 1982 (pp. 105–136).
Scribal note: Text is extremely fragmentary. All lacunae are marked with [...]. No text has been reconstructed or invented to fill gaps; only surviving Hebrew phrases have been rendered into English.
Scribe: DSS Tulku (scheduled), New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026
🌲
Source Text
תפילות השחר והערב (4Q503 — Prayers of the Gates)
Hebrew transcription from García Martínez, F. & Tigchelaar, E.J.C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, Brill, 1997–98. [...] marks lacunae; vacat marks intentional blank spaces.
Fragment 1
[...] בערב [...] גורל האור [...] ארבעה חלקים [...]
[...] יברכו ויאמרו ברוך אל ישראל [...]
[...] מערב [...] האורות הגדולים אשר כונן [...]
[...] הקדושים [...] אמן אמן [...]
Fragment 3
[...] ביום החמישי [...]
[...] יפתחו שערי אור [...] חמישה חלקי אור [...]
[...] ברוך אל ישראל אשר ברא בוקר [...]
[...] הקדושים אשר עמדו [...] ממזרח השמש [...]
[...] ויברכו ויאמרו [...]
[...] ברוך [אל ישראל ...] מועדי יום ולילה [...] אמן
Fragments 7–9
[...] בליל הארבעה עשר לחודש [...] בקום הירח למלואו [...]
[...] ארבעה עשר חלקי אור [...] האור הגדול המושל בלילה [...]
[...] יעמדו על שערי האור ויברכו ויאמרו [...]
[...] ברוך אל ישראל אשר חלק אור הירח [לעמו לאותות ולמועדים ...]
[...] קדושי אור [...] וכל צבא השמים יברכו [...]
[...] אמן אמן [...]
Fragments 10–12
[...] בשישה עשר [...] גורל החשך יגדל [...]
[...] ויעמדו ויברכו ויאמרו [...]
[...] ברוך אל ישראל אשר כונן חשך ואור ונתן לכל חלקו [...]
[...] שערי האור [...] מערב עד ערב [...] שלושה עשר חלקים [...]
[...] קדושי עצת עולם [...] אמן [...]
Fragments 15–16
[...] ביום העשרים לחודש [...]
[...] עשרה חלקי חשך [...] גורל החשך [...]
[...] יברכו [...] ויאמרו [...]
[...] ברוך אל ישראל [...] קדושי האור [...]
[...] ממזרח השמש [...] אמן [...]
Fragments 29–30
[...] קדושי האור עמדו [על השערים ויברכו ויאמרו:]
[...] ברוך אל ישראל מלך הכבוד אשר ברא שמים ויסד ארץ [...]
[...] קדושיך יספרו נפלאותיך על שערי האור [...]
[...] מחודש [אל חודש] [...] מועדים [...] אמן אמן [...]
Fragments 37–38
[...] ביום השלושים לחודש [...]
[...] עדת הקדושים [...] יברכו ויאמרו [...]
[...] ברוך אל ישראל אשר הבדיל בין הקודש ובין החול בין האור ובין החשך
בין מועדי יום ובין מועדי לילה [...]
[...] מחודש [אל חודש ...] גורל האור יצא וגורל החשך יבוא [...]
[...] אמן [...] יהי שמו מבורך לעולם [...]
Source Colophon
Text: 4Q503
Transcription: García Martínez, F. & Tigchelaar, E.J.C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, Brill, 1997–98; Baillet, M., DJD VII, 1982
Scribe: DSS Tulku (scheduled), New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026
🌲