God has given in my heart knowledge and insight.

Fragment 1, Column i

(Fourteen lines, all severely lacunose. Content reconstructed from surviving vocabulary.)

[...] of glo[ry], a portion of knowledge and length of days —
[... who ke]ep all his commandments.
And the seed of the wicked ones. [...]

[...] God has given in my heart knowledge and insight.
[...] and for those who observe [tru]th, words of [...]

[...] they will not be.
[...] all beauty in the world.
[...] and nothing strange is [...]
[...] eating the good of its branches.
[...] secretly from before him [...]
[...] to the kings of the earth, pursu[ing ...]
[...] and women.

Fragment 1, Column ii

(Twelve lines. The voice shifts to a first-person wisdom address — a teacher instructing a student.)

[...] a fi[rst]born I will raise [...]
He will understand, and I will tell you: [...]
Pay attention to the deeds of peo[ple,]
the steps of man he will know. [...]
Upright — and he will take possession of her. And not [...]
He should not bring me to [...]
You protect me from [...]
[...] man [...]
[...] good [...]
[...] he will straighten [...]

Fragment 12

(Four lines. A genealogical passage naming three sons of Shem from Genesis 10:22.)

[...] they sought, and clans [...]
[... A]sshur and Arpachshad and L[ud ...]
[...] and all who dwell [...]

Colophon

Text: 4Q426 (4QSapiential-Hymnic Work A, also designated ROC 276), Cave 4, Hasmonean period, parchment. Two column fragments and Fragment 12 preserving approximately thirty lines total. Published by Annette Steudel in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XX (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), pp. 211–224, pl. XVIII.

4Q426 belongs to the cluster of Cave 4 wisdom texts alongside 4QInstruction (4Q415–418), 4QMysteries (1Q27, 4Q299–301), and the Composition Concerning Divine Providence (4Q413). The two-column structure combines a didactic address in col. i — promising knowledge, insight, and length of days to those who keep the commandments — with a first-person wisdom voice in col. ii that raises a "firstborn" and calls the student to attend to the deeds of men. "God has given in my heart knowledge and insight" (col. i line 4) echoes the divine gift of understanding found throughout Qumran sapiential literature: wisdom is not acquired through human effort alone but implanted by God in the faithful heart. The seed of the wicked (זרע רשעים) as a category of those excluded from this gift is a recurring sectarian motif.

Fragment 12's mention of Asshur, Arpachshad, and Lud — three of the five sons of Shem in Genesis 10:22 — situates the text within the nations theology of the Qumran apocalyptic tradition: the Table of Nations as the framework for God's sovereignty over all peoples. Whether this fragment belongs to an eschatological prophecy or to a wisdom meditation on the ordering of humanity is unclear from the surviving text.

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, pp. 892–893. All lacunae marked [...]; bracketed restorations follow DSSE. Vacat markers (intentional blanks in the manuscript) noted as section breaks.

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Source Text

4Q426 — פרגמנטים 1, 12 (Fragments 1, 12)

Hebrew transcription from García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, pp. 892–893 (Brill, 1997–1999). Square brackets indicate lacunae or restorations. Curly braces {} mark scribal corrections in the manuscript. "vacat" marks an intentional blank.

Fragment 1, Column i:

]... כב[וד ומדת דעת ואורך ימים    1
]... שו[מרי כול מצוותיו וזרע רשעים vacat    2
[...]    3
]... נתן אל בלבבי ד[עה ובינה    4
]...[לם ולנוצר]י אמ[ת אמרי    5
...]...[ ]...[    6
]...[ה    7
vacat ]...[לה    8
]... כול תור בתבל    9
]... כול זר אין    10
]...[ה ואוכל טוב ענפיה    11
]...[ת בסתר מלפני}ו{ ...ם    12
]...[..ול למלכי ארץ [רוד]ף    13
]...[ים ונשים    14

Fragment 1, Column ii:

vacat    1
[...] בכור ארים ש    2
[...] יתבונן ואגידה    3
[... ל}ו{ת אנ]וש ואתבוננו בפע    4
[... ] צעדי איש ידע .]...[    5
[...] ישר ונחלה ואל    6
[...] ואל יביאני עד    7
[...] תשוך בעדי] מן ...[    8
[...] איש    9
[...] טוב    10
[...] יפלס    11
א [...]    12

Fragment 12:

]...[.יה לוא ה    1
[...] ]...[ דרשו ומשפחות    2
[...] ]... א[שור וארפכשד ול]וד    3
[...] ]... [וכול שוכני    4

Notes

Fragment 1, col. i, line 1: כבוד = "glory"; מדת דעת = "a portion/measure of knowledge"; ואורך ימים = "and length of days" — the classic triad of wisdom rewards (cf. Prov 3:16).

Fragment 1, col. i, line 4: נתן אל בלבבי דעה ובינה = "God has given in my heart knowledge and insight." Divine impartation as the origin of wisdom, parallel to the Hodayot's "through the spirit which you gave in me."

Fragment 1, col. ii, line 2: בכור = "firstborn"; ארים = "I will raise/exalt" (root רום). The firstborn may be a student elevated by the wisdom teacher, or the text may speak of wisdom's chosen heir.

Fragment 12, line 3: אשור = Asshur (son of Shem, Gen 10:22); ארפכשד = Arpachshad (ancestor of the Shemite line leading to Abraham); לוד = Lud. Three of the five sons of Shem in the Table of Nations.

Source Colophon

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

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