God looked down from the heavens and saw — all that they had done: violence. And his anger burned against them.
— 4Q370, Fragment 1, Column i
The Admonition on the Flood (4Q370) is a short Hebrew composition preserved in a single manuscript from Cave 4 at Qumran, written in an early Herodian formal hand (roughly 50–25 BCE). The text is a homiletical elaboration on the flood narrative of Genesis 6–8, drawing theological lessons from the fate of the flood generation and the preservation of Noah. It belongs to the same tradition of paraenetic use of biblical history found in the Damascus Document's opening, the Book of Jubilees, and Sirach — taking the well-known story as a mirror for the present.
The surviving text consists of one main fragment with two columns. Column i is the better preserved, with seventeen partially legible lines; the manuscript is broken on left and right, leaving the core vocabulary readable but without full sentences. Column ii is extremely lacunose, preserving only isolated words. The text's purpose is clear: to hold the flood generation before the reader as a warning against wickedness and hardness of heart, and to affirm that God sees all human deeds and repays accordingly. Where the manuscript is broken, it is broken — no text has been supplied.
Fragment 1, Column i
[...] and it was [...] in the days of Noah [...] before him [...]
[...] and all the inclination of the thoughts of [their] heart [...] all the [days ...]
[...] God looked down from the heavens and saw [...] and all that they had done — violence [and iniquity ...] and his anger burned against them to [destroy ...]
[...] and he brought [the great flood] upon the earth [...] the waters rose and covered [the mountains and the ...] all the hill[ocks and the birds of] the sky fled [and all ...]
[...the beast of the fi]eld perished [and all in whom was the breath of the spirit of life ...]
[...] Noah [found favor in the eyes of G]od [...] and he saved him from the [flood — Noah and his sons] and his wif[e and the wives of his sons ...]
[...] Hear, [all you inhabitants of ...] these — do not harden [your hearts ...] for G[od s]ees [...] and repays [the wicked ...]
Fragment 1, Column ii
The second column preserves only scattered words, insufficient for continuous translation:
[...] all your [days ...]
[...] in tru[th ...]
[...] his servan[t ...]
[...] the righteo[us ...]
[...] before him [...]
Colophon
The Admonition on the Flood (4Q370 — 4QAdmonFlood)
Composed in Hebrew, likely second century BCE. Single manuscript from Cave 4, early Herodian formal hand. Edited by Carol Newsom in DJD XIX (Broshi et al.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1995), pp. 85–97.
The text is a homiletical piece — not a retelling of the flood in sequence but a theological reading of it: the flood generation as the paradigm of those who do not return to God, Noah as the paradigm of the preserved righteous, the final lines as a direct call to the reader. Column i preserves seventeen lines, all broken on both sides; the vocabulary is legible but the sentences are incomplete. All lacunae are marked [...] in the translation. No text has been supplied or reconstructed beyond what the Hebrew line contains. Column ii has five lines of isolated vocabulary only.
Translated from Hebrew. Transcription: García Martínez & Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition vol. 1 (Brill, 1997), 726–729. Full critical edition: Carol Newsom in DJD XIX.
Good Works Translation — New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026.
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Source Text
4Q370 Fragment 1 — Hebrew
Fragment 1, Column i
1. [ ]ויהי[ ]
2. [ ]ביומי נח[ ]לפניו [ ]
3. [ ]וכול יצר מחשבות לב[הם ]כול ה[ימים ]
4. [ ]וישקף אלוהים מן השמים ויר[א ]
5. [ ]ואת כל אשר עשו חמס [ועוון ]
6. [ ]ויחר אפו בהם ל[השחית ]
7. [ ]ויבא [את המבול הגדול] על הארץ [ ]
8. [ ויעל]ו המים ויכסו [את ההרים ואת ]
9. [כל הגבע]ות ותנס ציפור [השמים וכל ]
10. [חית הש]דה אבדה [וכל אשר נשמת רוח חיים]
11. [ ]נח [מצא חן בעיני א]לוהים [ ]
12. [ ]ויצל אתו מן ה[מבול את נח ואת בניו ]
13. [ואת אש]ת[ו ואת נשי בניו ]
14. [ ]שמעו [כל ישבי ]
15. [ אל]ה אל תקשו [את לבבכם ]
16. [ ]כי א[לוהים ר]ואה את [ ]
17. [ ]ומשלם [לרשעים ]
Fragment 1, Column ii
(Highly lacunose — isolated words only)
1. [ ]כול י[ומיכם ]
2. [ ]ב[א]מת [ ]
3. [ ]עבד[ו ]
4. [ ]צד[יקים ]
5. [ ]לפניו [ ]
Source Colophon
4Q370 (4QAdmonFlood). Cave 4, Qumran. Hebrew. Edited: Carol Newsom in M. Broshi et al. (eds.), Qumrân Grotte 4 XIV (DJD XIX; Oxford: Clarendon, 1995), pp. 85–97. Transcription: F. García Martínez & E. J. C. Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition vol. 1 (Brill, 1997), 726–729.
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