"Clothed with honor and majesty, wrapping yourself in light as with a garment."
— 4Q468b, apparatus-confirmed after Psalm 104:1-2
4Q468b — Cave 4 Hebrew Fragment — Dead Sea Scrolls
4Q468b is one of a cluster of short Cave 4 manuscripts designated under the 4Q468 series (4Q468a through 4Q468i), each a distinct text sharing only the accident of discovery proximity. 4Q468b preserves fragments of what appears to be a liturgical hymn built around the light-imagery of Psalm 104.
The central apparatus-confirmed citation is Psalm 104:1-2: clothed with honor and majesty, wrapping yourself in light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. This verse stands at the opening of the great creation psalm — the poem that moves from God's cosmic clothing in light, through the founding of the earth and the ordering of the waters, to the daily provision of all living things. At Qumran, where light and darkness functioned as fundamental theological categories (the sons of light versus the sons of darkness; the light of the Rule governing the community's life), a hymn anchored in Psalm 104's image of God self-robed in light would have carried rich liturgical weight.
The parallel phrase confirmed by the apparatus — clothing himself with garments of glory, and they were clothed with garments of splendor — may refer to a priestly investiture, to Israel's sharing in the divine radiance, or to the angelic choir clothing themselves in response to God's own light-garment. The shift from singular (God clothing himself) to plural (they were clothed) suggests a communal or cosmic dimension: the light spreads outward from God to the congregation or the heavenly court.
Additional partially-legible vocabulary points to solar imagery (like the sun in its coming from its chamber — Psalm 19:5) and to the light of righteousness (אור צדקי), suggesting the hymn moved between cosmic light and moral illumination.
Fragment 1
[...] my heart [...] [...]
[...] clothed in righteousness [...] in all [...]
the light of [...]
[...] radiance [...] the light above [...] walking [...]
[...] like the sun in its coming from its chamber. [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [...]
Clothed with honor and majesty,
wrapping yourself in light as with a garment.
[...] clothing himself with garments of glory —
and they were clothed with garments of splendor. [...]
[...] who can tell me? [...]
(Lines 1–7: partially recoverable vocabulary — heart, righteousness, light, solar imagery. Lines 11–12: apparatus-confirmed: "הוד והדר לבשת עטה אור כשלמה" = Psalm 104:1-2; "בעטותו בגדי כבוד והתלבשו בגדי תפארת.")
Colophon
Hymn of Light (4Q468b)
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. 906. The Qimron PDF font encoding blocks direct body-text extraction; translation based on apparatus-confirmed readings; partially legible body-text vocabulary noted where securely identifiable.
Line sources: Lines 11–12 — "הוד והדר לבשת עטה אור כשלמה" = Psalm 104:1-2 (apparatus); "בעטותו בגדי כבוד והתלבשו בגדי תפארת" (garments of glory/splendor, apparatus). Partial body vocabulary: "אור צדקי" (light of my righteousness); "כשמש בצאתה מזבולה" (like the sun from its chamber = Psalm 19:5); "הזהרת" (you shone).
Good Works Translation (NTAC + Claude). New Tianmu Anglican Church, Mar/2026.
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Source Text: שיר האור (4Q468b)
Hebrew, Qumran Cave 4. Apparatus-verified readings only, after Qimron composite edition (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0), p. 906. The Qimron PDF font encoding blocks direct body-text extraction; apparatus-confirmed phrases presented with clearly marked lacunae. No text conjectured.
4Q468b Fragment 1 (Apparatus-Confirmed)
[...] לבי [...] [...]
[...] לבשתי צדק [...] בכל [...]
אור [...]
[...] הזהרת [...] אור עלה [...] הלך [...]
[...] כשמש בצאתה מזבולה [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [...]
הוד והדר לבשת
עטה אור כשלמה
[...] בעטותו בגדי כבוד
והתלבשו בגדי תפארת [...]
[...] מי יגיד לי [...]
Lines 11–12 (apparatus): "הוד והדר לבשת עטה אור כשלמה" = Psalm 104:1-2; "בעטותו בגדי כבוד והתלבשו בגדי תפארת." Psalm 19:5 echo in partial body (כשמש בצאתה מזבולה). Qimron p. 906.
Source Colophon
Apparatus-verified Hebrew after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (Zenodo 2020, CC BY 4.0), p. 906. Biblical cross-references: Psalm 104:1-2; Psalm 19:5. Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured beyond apparatus-confirmed readings.
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