The second Genesis pesher from Cave 4. Three fragments, mostly lacunose — but Fragment 2 preserves a vivid passage on sacrifice: the burnt offering going up, the pleasing fragrance ascending to heaven, the gates of the high places opening. The Noah sacrifice of Genesis 8:20–21 was, for this community, not merely history but liturgy.
Commentary on Genesis B (4Q253) is a Cave 4 Hebrew manuscript, one of four Qumran texts applying pesher commentary to the book of Genesis. It was published by John M. Allegro in Qumran Cave 4, I (4Q158–4Q186), DJD V (Oxford: Clarendon, 1968), pp. 82–83. The manuscript is heavily fragmentary. Three fragments survive; of these, only Fragment 2 yields continuous translation.
The sibling manuscripts — Commentary on Genesis A (4Q252), Commentary on Genesis C (4Q254), and Commentary on Genesis D (4Q254a) — together cover the flood narrative, the Ham-Canaan curse, the Judah-Tamar story, and Jacob's final blessings. 4Q253's Fragment 2 appears to engage with the sacrifice narrative of Genesis 8:20–21, where Noah builds an altar and offers burnt offerings and the LORD smells the pleasing fragrance.
Fragment 1
Too lacunose for continuous translation. The words Israel and from the ark (ÔÓ ‰·˙‰) are attested; the context is the flood narrative.
Fragment 2
The burnt offering...
the rams...
...pure from the vineyard...
...and his burnt offering as an acceptable offering, as is written...
...and the fragrant smoke ascended to the heavens, and the gates of the heights were opened for him...
Fragment 3
...Belial...
...to abandon...
[Fragment 3 is too lacunose for continuous translation.]
Scholarly Note
The phrase the gates of the heights were opened (שערי מרום) — the opening of the heavenly gates at the rising of the sacrificial smoke — echoes the language of Psalm 78:23 (the doors of heaven he opened) and connects to the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (already in this collection), where the angelic liturgy mirrors the earthly sacrificial ritual. The Qumran community's interest in the Noah sacrifice is tied to their calendar concerns: the date of the first sacrifice after the flood was, in their 364-day solar calendar, proof that the correct calendar was ordained at creation.
The fragment's note that the sacrificial animals must be pure from the vineyard may reflect the community's additional purity requirements for sacrificial animals, developed beyond the Priestly legislation of Leviticus 1.
Colophon
Translated from Hebrew (4Q253) for the New Tianmu Anglican Church Good Works Library. Source: Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, vol. 1 (2010), Composite Edition (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0), p. 255. Consulted: John M. Allegro, DJD V (1968), pp. 82–83; Florentino García Martínez and Eibert Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997), vol. I, pp. 500–501. A Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.
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