Commentary on Genesis A (4Q252) is a Hebrew text from Qumran Cave 4, preserved in six columns. It belongs to the genre of rewritten scripture: the community reads the flood narrative of Genesis and the patriarchal blessings through the lens of their own calendar, covenant theology, and messianic expectations. The first two columns restructure the flood chronology to fit the 364-day solar calendar, demonstrating that every significant date in the flood falls on a Wednesday — the day on which the luminaries were created. Columns three and four address the curse of Canaan, the blessing of Shem, and the nations. Column six preserves the most striking passage: a pesher on Jacob’s blessing of Judah in Genesis 49:10, identifying the coming ruler as the Branch of David (Tsemach David), the righteous Messiah, to whom an everlasting covenant of kingship has been given. This is one of the most important messianic passages in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Column I — The Flood Calendar
In the four hundred and eightieth year of Noah’s life, the end of them arrived. And God said: My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh; his days shall be one hundred and twenty years — until the waters of the flood come upon the earth.
In the year six hundred of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the first of the month, the waters arose and covered the high mountains. [...]
And on the first of the first month, at the beginning of the year, the waters dried from the face of the earth.
And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and the face of the ground was dry.
In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day, the earth was dry.
[...] and all the days of the flood waters upon the earth were a year and ten days — according to the count of the year: three hundred and sixty-four days.
Column II — The Covenant with Noah
[...] God spoke to Noah saying: Go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
[...] I will not again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from its youth; nor will I again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.
And God said: I set my bow in the cloud; it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth — and between me and every living creature of all flesh. When the bow appears in the cloud, I will remember my covenant. [...]
[...] Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. [...]
Column III — The Curse of Canaan
Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent.
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.
Shem and Japheth took the garment, laid it on both their shoulders, walked backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
When Noah woke from his wine he knew what his youngest son had done to him, and he said:
Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.
And he said: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant.
[...] The land of Canaan shall be given to Shem and to his descendants after him throughout their generations forever. [...]
Column IV — The Nations
[...] These are the families of the sons of Noah according to their generations, in their nations. From these the nations spread over the earth after the flood.
And Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first mighty man on the earth. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Akkad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
[...] And the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth. [...]
Column V — The Blessing of Abram
[...] Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
[...] And the LORD said to Abram: Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. [...]
[...] And Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. [...]
[...] And God said to him: To your descendants I will give this land. And there he built an altar to the LORD. [...]
Column VI — The Branch of David
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Interpretation of the matter: The scepter shall not depart from the house of Judah while there is a ruler from the line of David upon the throne.
For the commander’s staff is the covenant of the kingship; the thousands of Israel are the banners, until the coming of the righteous Messiah, the Branch of David. For to him and to his seed the covenant of the kingship of his people has been given for the generations of eternity, because he kept [the Law of the Community...] the Torah of [the LORD...].
Colophon
Translated from the Hebrew of 4Q252, drawing on the transcription in García Martínez and Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–98), and the critical edition by G. J. Brooke in DJD XXII (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996). Commentary on Genesis A belongs to the genre of rewritten scripture: the community’s reading of Genesis through the lens of the 364-day solar calendar and their own messianic theology. Column VI is the best-preserved section and among the most important messianic texts in the Scrolls. Translated by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text
פשר בראשית אלף (4Q252)
Hebrew transcription of Commentary on Genesis A (4Q252), based on García Martínez and Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–98), and G. J. Brooke, DJD XXII (Oxford, 1996). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation.
Column I — The Flood Calendar
[בשנת שש מ]אות שנה לחיי נח
[בחדש הש]ני באחד לחדש
[עלו ה]מים וכסו [את כל ההרים הגבוהים]
[...]
[באחד לחדש הראשון בראש ה]שנה
[חסרו המים מעל פני האדמה]
[...]
[ויהיו ימי מבול המים על הארץ]
[שנה ועשרה ימים]
[למנין השנה שלוש מאות ששים וארבעה יום]
Column III — The Curse of Canaan
[ויחל נח א]יש האדמה ויטע כ[רם]
[וישת מן היין וישכר ויתגל]
[בתוך אהלו]
[וירא חם א]בי [כנען את ערות אביו]
[ויגד לשני אחיו בחוץ]
[ויאמר ארור כנען עבד עבדים יהיה לאחיו]
[ויאמר ברוך יהוה אלהי שם ויהי כנען עבד למו]
[...]
Column VI — The Branch of David (Best Preserved)
לא יסור שבט מיהודה
[ומחוקק מבין רגליו עד יבוא אשר לו המשפט]
[פ][שרו] לא יסור שלט מבית יהודה
[בשבת] לדויד ממשלה [...]
[עד בוא] מש[יח הצדק צמח] דויד
כי לו ולזרעו נת[נה] ברית מלכות עמו עד דורות עולם
[א]שר ש[מר] תורת [היחד...]
Source Colophon
Hebrew transcription based on García Martínez and Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–98), and the critical edition of G. J. Brooke in DJD XXII (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996). Column VI (the Branch of David passage) is the best-preserved section and is reproduced with high confidence; the transcription here closely follows the scholarly consensus. Columns I–V largely paraphrase the biblical text (Genesis 6–9, 49) with Qumran-specific additions, particularly the 364-day calendar calculation in Column I. Square brackets indicate lacunae. Only columns with recoverable Hebrew content are presented here; columns IV–V are very fragmentary.
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