The city searched with lamps. The men who settle thick on their dregs. The LORD who will do neither good nor evil — so they say in their hearts. What survives of this commentary is mostly silence and broken edges; what is preserved cuts.

The Pesher Zephaniah survives in two manuscripts from Qumran: 1Q15 (1QpZeph) from Cave 1 and 4Q170 (4QpZeph) from Cave 4. Both are among the most fragmentary of the Qumran pesharim — the Cave 1 manuscript preserves portions of two columns, the Cave 4 manuscript only scattered words. Together they attest a commentary focused on Zephaniah 1:12–13, the oracle against the complacent of Jerusalem, those who sit "thick on their dregs" and believe the LORD has withdrawn from history.

The pesher form is standard: biblical lemma quoted, followed by pishro ("its interpretation"), the application to the community's present circumstances. Here the application is almost entirely lost to damage. What remains is the oracle itself, twice quoted, like a bell struck in an empty room.

1Q15 — Cave 1

Zephaniah 1:12

And it shall come to pass at that time: I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who sit thick on their dregs — those who say in their hearts: "The LORD will do no good, and no evil."

Its interpretation concerns [...]

[...] and [...] their [...]

Zephaniah 1:13

Their wealth shall become plunder and their houses a desolation. They shall build houses but not dwell in them; they shall plant vineyards but not drink their wine.

Its interpretation concerns [...]

[...]

4Q170 — Cave 4

[...] search [...] with lamps [...]

[...] its interpretation [...]

[...]

Colophon

Commentary on Zephaniah, drawn from 1Q15 (1QpZeph) and 4Q170 (4QpZeph), preserved at Qumran and published in DJD I (Barthélemy & Milik, 1955) and DJD V (Allegro, 1968). Translated from Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. The pesher commentary is almost entirely lost to manuscript damage; lacunae are marked throughout. Only the biblical lemma and the bare fact of pesher interpretation survive with any clarity.

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Source Text

Hebrew transcription of 1Q15 and 4Q170 follows the translation.

1Q15 (1QpZeph) — Fragment 1

Column i

[...]
[זפ]נ֯יה [...]
[ו]הי֯ה בעת ה[היא אחפש את ירושלים בנרות ופקדתי]
[על האנ]שים [הקפא]ים על שמריה[ם האמרים בלבבם לא ייטיב]
[יהוה ול]א ירע [פ]שרו ע֯[ל...]
[...]ל[...]

Column ii (very fragmentary)

[והי]ה חיל֯[ם למשסה ובתיהם לשממה ובנו בתים ולא ישבו ונטעו]
[כר]מ֯ים [ולא ישתו את יינם] פשרו [על...]
[...]

4Q170 (4QpZeph) — Fragment 1

[...]ב֯[...]
[...]נרות[...]
[...]פשרו[...]
[...]

Source Colophon

Hebrew transcription after García Martínez & Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997), vol. 1, pp. 386–387; and Barthélemy & Milik, Qumran Cave 1 (DJD I, Oxford, 1955); Allegro, Qumrân Cave 4 (DJD V, Oxford, 1968). Dots above letters (◌֯) mark uncertain readings in the manuscript. Brackets mark lacunae.

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