And Moses, the man of God, was with God in the cloud — in his holiness, and like an angel he spoke from his mouth.
— 4Q377, Fragment 1 col. ii
Cave 4 Hebrew manuscript. Published by Monica Brady in DJD XXVIII: Qumran Cave 4.XXIII, Unclassified Fragments (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000). Hebrew transcription via García Martínez & Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2 (Brill, 1997/2000), pp. 744–747. Also known as 4QApocryphal Pentateuch B, or 4QapocrPent B.
4Q377 is a parabiblical composition that reworks material from Numbers and Deuteronomy in a voice that is at once liturgical and theological — not narrative retelling but covenant proclamation. The manuscript is opisthographic (written on both sides of parchment); Fragment 1 bears a mirror image of text on the verso, the result of tight rolling.
Three theological innovations mark it as among the most striking parabiblical texts in the corpus.
The first is Moses as anointed one (מְשִׁיחוֹ). The scroll speaks of "all the commandments of YHWH by the mouth of Moses his anointed one" — applying the title mashiach to Moses, a designation normally reserved for priests and kings. By this stroke, Moses becomes a messianic figure in the full technical sense: the one through whose anointed mouth the Torah came, and to disobey is to fall under the covenant curse.
The second is Moses inside the theophany. At Sinai, "the man of God was with God in the cloud, and the cloud covered him." In Exodus, the cloud covers the mountain; here Moses is placed within the theophanic event itself, standing in the fire from above, on the earth, on the mountain — at the juncture of heaven and ground.
The third is Moses as angel. "Like an angel he spoke from his mouth." The Qumran corpus elsewhere exalts Moses in angelic terms — 4Q374 calls him "like an angel of God, a prince to them" — but 4Q377 is more explicit: Moses speaks as an angel, and through him are revealed things not yet created from eternity.
Fragment 1 col. i establishes the scene through a tribal muster list, and weaves into it a compressed allusion to the Phinehas crisis (Numbers 25) and the Miriam episode (Numbers 12). "A man of the pious, and he raised his voice — and the anger of his fury abated, and Miriam was kept from his eyes" collapses two moments of communal rupture and priestly intervention into a single frame. Fragment 3 turns to Joshua: the appointment of commanders, the commission to lead the people across, the exhortation be strong and resolute.
Fragment 1, Column i
[...] ...
[... from the tri]be [...]
[... from the tri]be of Benjamin: Rephajah.
[...] Zimri from the tribe of Gad, Eliyu [...]
[... al]l the muster, from twenty years
and upward. [...]
[...] a man of the pious, and he raised his voice —
[...]
— the anger of his fury abated,
and Miriam was kept from his eyes.
[...] upon us — and we will grieve, [...] because...
Fragment 1, Column ii
[...] and your wonders [...]
[...] they understand the statutes of Moses.
[blank]
And Elyab[o(?)] answered and said:
Hear, O congregation of YHWH —
attend, all the assembly [...]
to all his words and his judgments.
[blank]
Cursed is the man who does not stand and keep
and do all the commandments of YHWH
by the mouth of Moses his anointed one —
walking after YHWH, the God of our fathers,
who commanded us.
[blank]
And he spoke with the assembly of Israel face to face —
from the mountains of Sinai —
as a man speaks with his neighbor.
And as a man sees light:
he showed us in blazing fire from above, from the heavens.
On the earth he stood on the mountain to declare
[that there is no God besides him, and no Rock like him.]
And all the congregation [...]
And trembling seized them
before the glory of God
and before the voices of wonder —
and they stood at a distance.
[blank]
And Moses, the man of God, was with God in the cloud,
and the cloud covered him —
[in his holiness, and like an angel he spoke from his mouth.]
For who is a herald like him?
A man of lovingkindness —
[who made known] things not yet created from eternity and forever. [...]
Fragments 3 + 4
[...] and he brought out [...]
and now, this very day [...]
and we listened to Moses —
[...] a just and great man —
chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds,
chiefs of fif[ties and chiefs of tens] —
to the judges and the overseers [...]
[...] he will hear and not [...]
Do not fear.
Be strong and re[solute,
for you will cause [this people] to take possession [...]
He will not abandon [you.]
Let your hands be strong. [...]
To set out in [front of] the people [...]
Fragment 6, Column i
[...] for in fire [...]
[...] a prayer for our sins [...]
Do not be like my brothers who descend [...]
his deeds forever, for to its ages [...]
[...] your guilt. Woe, my brothers, upon you! [...]
[...] and like a father speaks to his son [...]
Fragment 6, Column ii
[...] he tested me and gave [me...]
to stand before God and before [...]
[...] my heart — for God tests hearts [...]
and he tested [...]
Woe to me [...]
[...] upon you, my Lord [...]
Fragment 11
[...] for YHWH your God [...]
to fulfill his words [...]
who spoke, who swore to Abraham to give [...]
a good and broad land — streams of [...]
springs and deep waters [...]
Colophon
Source: 4Q377, Cave 4, Qumran. Published by Monica Brady in DJD XXVIII: Qumran Cave 4.XXIII, Unclassified Fragments (VanderKam & Brady, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000). Hebrew transcription via García Martínez & Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2 (Brill, 1997/2000), pp. 744–747.
Translation: New Tianmu Anglican Church (AI-assisted). Translated from Hebrew. Lacunae marked [...]. Fragment and line numbering follow DJD XXVIII. The manuscript is opisthographic; Fragment 1 has a mirror image on the verso from tight rolling. Main translatable content: Fragment 1 col. i (tribal muster and Phinehas/Miriam allusions), Fragment 1 col. ii (covenant curse formula, Sinai theophany, Moses as anointed one and angelic speaker), Fragments 3+4 (Joshua commissioning), Fragment 6 (prayer and lament), Fragment 11 (promise of the land). Highly fragmentary lines with fewer than two readable words are omitted.
On the title "anointed one" (משיחו): The scroll applies this title to Moses — otherwise reserved for high priests (Lev 4:3) and kings (1 Sam 24:7). Scholarly discussion: E. Puech, "Le fragment 2 de 4Q377, Pentateuque Apocryphe B: L'exaltation de Moïse," RevQ 21 (2004), pp. 469–475; A. Feldman, "The Sinai Revelation according to 4Q377 (Apocryphal Pentateuch B)," DSD 18 (2011), pp. 155–172.
🌲
Source Text
Fragment 1, Column i
]… למ[טה בנימין רפיה4 ]… למ[טה3 …[…] 2
]… כו[ל המאסף מבן עשרים שנה6 ]…[זמרי למטה גד אליו5
[… ]ולמעלה7
vacat ]… ו[ישיב9 ]…[ל איש החשידים וישא קולו8
]…[ עלינו ונהגה אל… כיא10 … חרון א]פו ותסג[ר מרים מעינו
Fragment 1, Column ii
יבינו בחוקות מושה2 […]… ]…[ ומופתיכה1
vacat
[ לכ]ול [דב]ריו [ומשפ]ט[י]ו4 ]…[… ויען אליבו]א וי[אמר ש]מע [עדת יהוה והקשב כול הקהל3
vacat ארור האיש אשר לוא יעמוד וישמור
לכול מצ]ות י[הוה בפי מושה משיחו וללכת אחר יהוה אלוהי5 [ויע]שה
לנו מהרי סינ]י [ 6 [אבותינו המצו]ה vacat וידבר ע]ם [קהל ישראל פנים
איש עם רעהו וכא]ש[ר יראה איש א]ו[ר7 עם אל פנים כאשר ידבר
ועל הארץ עמד על ההר להודיע8 הראנו באש בעורה ממעלה ]מ[שמים
הקהל }…{]…[.נו9 [כיא אין אלוה מבלעדיו ואין צור כמוהו ]וכול
ויעמודו מרחוק10 ורעדודיה אחזתם מלפני כבוד אלוהים ומקולות הפלא
vacat
…] עליו הענן כיא11 ומושה איש האלוהים עם אלוהים בענן ויכס
איש חסדים12 [בהקדשו וכמלאך ידבר מפיהו כיא מי מבש]ר [כמוהו
ויוד]ע …[ם אשר לוא נבראו }ל{מעולם ולעד …]…[…
Fragments 3 + 4
ושמענו למושה5 […] ועתה היום4 […] ויוצא3
המאיות שרי הח]משים7 [ איש ישר וגדול ]… שרי אלפים שרי6 […]כ
ישמע ולוא ]…[9 […] ולשוטרים ]…[ל8 [ושרי העשרות … לשופטים
ירפכה ולוא11 [ ואל תחת חזק וא]מץ כ[י תנחיל את ה]עם הזה … לוא10
[… למסע ל]פני העם12 [… ]יעזב]כה ת[חזקנה ידיך
Fragment 6, Column i
]…[א תפלה על חטאתינו4 […] ]…[ה כי באש3
]… [עולם עלילותיו כי לעלמיה6 ]…[.לים אל תדמו לאחי ]י[ורדי5
]…[…מה וכאב לבנו ידבר8 ]… א[שמכה הוי אחי עליכמה7
Fragment 6, Column ii
[… ] לעמוד לפני אלוה ולפני2 [… ]… ב[חנני ויתננ]י1
ויבחן4 […] לבי כי אלהים יבחן מל3
vacat מעלה5 […]… אוי לי
הכר6 […]לראשי נתי (הכרנו) ו
ולא8 […] עליכה אדני וב7 [… ]אמר
Fragment 11
]… לה[עמיד דבריו2 […]… ]…[כי יהוה] אלוהיכ[מה1
]… [טובה ורחבה ארץ נחלי4 ]…[ הנשבע לאברהם לתת3 אשר דבר
]…6 [ ]עינות ותהומות י5
Source Colophon
Hebrew transcription of 4Q377 (Cave 4, Qumran) from García Martínez & Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2 (Brill, 1997/2000), pp. 744–747, which reproduces the DJD XXVIII critical transcription (Brady, 2000). Fragment numbering follows DJD XXVIII. The manuscript is opisthographic; Fragment 1 recto col. ii contains the main Sinai material. Lacunae marked with square brackets; probable reconstructions in square brackets; scribal blanks (vacat) noted. Curly brackets {} mark scribal errors in the original.
🌲