From everlasting to everlasting, his name is praised.
Introduction
The Hymn of Eternal Praise (4Q291) is a fragmentary liturgical text from Cave 4, preserved in two small columns. The manuscript belongs to the category of devotional hymns composed at Qumran — texts meant for community recitation, close in spirit to the Thanksgiving Hymns (1QHa) and the Non-Canonical Psalms, but denser with doxological refrain.
The surviving content is built around three interlocking themes: the commandments (מצותיו) as the proper orientation of life, the blessing of God as holy and exalted, and the eternal praise of the divine name. The phrase "from everlasting to everlasting" (מעולם ולמעולם) is the liturgical spine of the text — the community's praise is explicitly placed outside of time, a participation in a praise that has no beginning and no end.
The apparatus preserved alongside the Qimron transcription identifies two direct scriptural resonances: Nehemiah 9:5 — "exalted above all blessing and praise" (ומרומם על כל ברכה ותהלה) — and 11QPsa, which contains the phrase "again they will praise you, Selah" (עוד יהללוך סלה). Both connections suggest the text was composed with the liturgical vocabulary of the Second Temple period's developed praise tradition actively in mind.
Fragment 1 is the primary readable fragment. Fragment 2 (second column) preserves the doxological conclusion. Several lines in each fragment are too damaged for continuous translation.
Fragment 1
[Lines 1–3: too fragmentary.]
[Line 4:] [...] and his commandments [...]
[Line 5:] [...] blessed are you, his Holy One [...] forever [...]
[Lines 6–7: too fragmentary.]
Fragment 2
[Line 1: too fragmentary.]
[Line 2:] [...] again they will praise you always [...]
[Line 3:] [...] and in his name all shall praise [...]
[Line 4:] [...] from everlasting to everlasting, praise [...]
[Line 5:] [...] he is great — praise him, all [...]
[Line 6:] [...] his works [...]
Colophon
Translated from the Hebrew of 4Q291 (Cave 4, Qumran), using the Qimron composite edition (CC BY 4.0, Zenodo 2020) as primary working text. The manuscript font encoding in the Qimron PDF renders several lines partially readable only through the critical apparatus. Apparatus-confirmed readings are: מצותיו (his commandments), ומרומם על כל ברכה ותהלה (echoing Neh 9:5), עוד יהללוך סלה (paralleling 11QPsa), מעולם ולמעולם (from everlasting to everlasting), ובשמו יתהללו כל (in his name all shall praise). All other lines translated from continuous Hebrew where readable; remaining gaps marked with square brackets.
Good Works Translation — New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated by Tulku Ezra (Mar/2026).
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Source Text
4Q291 — Fragment 1
[...] [...] [...]
[...] [...] [...]
[...] [...] [...]
[...] וּמִצ]וֹתָיו [...]
[...] בָּ]רוּ]ך אַ]תָּה [ק]ד]ו]שׁ]וֹ... עַ]ד [...]
[...] [...] [...]
4Q291 — Fragment 2
[...] [...] [...]
[...] עוֹד יְהַ]לְּלוּ]ך תָּ]מִיד [...]
[...] וּבִ]שְׁמ]וֹ יִתְהַ]לְּלוּ כ]ל [...]
[...] מֵ]עוֹ]לָם וּ]לְ]עוֹ]לָם הַ]לֵּ]ל [...]
[...] הוּא גָּד]וֹל הַ]לְּלוּ]הוּ כ]ל [...]
[...] מַ]עֲשָׂ]יו [...]
Transcription based on Qimron composite edition (CC BY 4.0). The original manuscript uses the Herodian square script. The Qimron PDF font encoding renders substantial portions of the body text partially opaque; the above presents apparatus-confirmed readings only. Uncertain letters unmarked; lacunae marked with brackets.
Source Colophon
Hebrew transcription of 4Q291 (Cave 4, Qumran), included in the Qimron composite edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (CC BY 4.0, Zenodo 2020). The fragment preserves parts of a doxological hymn drawing on the liturgical vocabulary of Nehemiah 9:5 and the Psalms Scroll (11QPsa).
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