[You will ga]ther [those who f]ear you, [the sons of] Israel [...] and your perfect ones. You will [re]deem the perfect ones in all [...] Blessed are you, all who fear yhwh.

(Six fragmentary lines of a single column. The surviving text is a hymnic appeal to God on behalf of Israel's faithful.)

[...] profane [...]
[...] your [peo]ple w[hi]ch you bless [...]
[...] you will ga[ther] [those who f]ear you, [the s]o[ns of] Israel w[ho ...]
[...] and your perfect ones. You will re[deem] the perfect ones in all [...]
[...] the elect ones. Blessed are you, all who fear yhwh [...]
[...] Blank [...]

Colophon

Text: 4Q528 (4QHymnic or Sapiential Work B), Cave 4. PAM 42.079, 43.575. Published by É. Puech in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XXV (Oxford: Clarendon, 1998), pp. 187–190, pl. XIV.

Despite its brevity, 4Q528 preserves the structure and vocabulary of a sectarian hymn of praise and petition. The movement is from God's people to God's action: Israel (God's people, God's blessed), the fearers of God, and the perfect ones (tammimim, תמימים) — three overlapping but distinguishable categories in Qumran theology. The "fearers" (ire'im, יראים) are a standard positive category in Second Temple piety, drawn from the Psalms (Ps 103:11, 115:13) and Wisdom literature. The "perfect ones" (tammimim) are a Qumran sectarian term — the Community Rule uses tamim ha-derekh ("perfect of way," תמים הדרך) to describe those who walk in full observance of Torah. "Redeeming the perfect ones" (גאל התמים) suggests a liturgy of communal deliverance — God will act to rescue those who are faithful.

The climactic line 5 is a beatitude: ashre-khem kol yire' yhwh ("Blessed are you, all who fear yhwh") — a second-person blessing addressed to the fearers of God in the manner of Psalm 128:1 ("Blessed is every one who fears yhwh"). The Blank at line 6 suggests a formal section ending; what follows this prayer unit is not preserved.

The text is associated on the same PAM plate with 4Q527 (Liturgical Work D), suggesting both derive from the same scribal deposit.

Translation: Good Works Translation from Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Hebrew transcription consulted in García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–1999), vol. 2, p. 1060.

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Source Text

4Q528 — Hebrew Fragment

Hebrew transcription from García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, p. 1060 (Brill, 1997–1999). Square brackets indicate lacunae or restorations.

[…] ]…[חנפ    1
[…] ]… ע[מך א]ש[ר תברך ה    2
] ]… תקב[וץ [… יר[איך ב]ני [ישראל אש]ר    3
]…[ ותמימיך ת]ג[אל התמים בכול    4
[…]מvacat  ]…[.תם הבחיר]י[ם אשריכם כול יראי יהוה    5
[…]    6

Notes

Line 1: חנפ (possibly partial הנפה, "the wave-offering" or similar; context uncertain).

Line 2: תברך = "you bless" (second-person singular, addressed to God as subject blessing the people). The address to God shifts in line 3 to God's action of gathering.

Line 3: תקב[וץ = "you will ga[ther]" (root קבץ, the standard ingathering verb; cf. Isa 56:8). יראיך = "those who fear you." בני ישראל = "the sons of Israel."

Line 4: תמימיך = "your perfect ones" (root תמם; cf. 1QS 8:20, the "perfect of way"). תג[אל = "you will re[deem]" (root גאל, the kinsman-redeemer verb of Ruth/Isaiah 40–55).

Line 5: הבחיר[ים] = "the elect ones" (root בחר). אשריכם כול יראי יהוה = "Blessed are you, all who fear yhwh" — a second-person beatitude; cf. Psalm 128:1.

Source Colophon

Source: Hebrew. Cave 4, Qumran. DJD XXV (Puech, 1998). Transcription: García Martínez and Tigchelaar, DSSE (1997–1999), vol. 2.

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