"...forty years in the wilderness..."
— 4Q385a, Fragment 18

4Q385a is a Cave 4 Hebrew manuscript belonging to the pseudo-Mosaic revelatory tradition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Published by Devorah Dimant in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XXX: Qumran Cave 4, XXI — Parabiblical Texts, Part 4 (Oxford: Clarendon, 2001), it is one of several Qumran texts that present Moses receiving divine revelation — not the lawgiving of Sinai and Deuteronomy, but apocalyptic instruction about times to come.

The manuscript consists of eighteen fragments, of which the majority are traces too small for continuous translation. It belongs to a cluster of pseudo-prophetic texts in the Qumran library: alongside Pseudo-Ezekiel (4Q385–388, presenting Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones and the periodization of exile) and the Apocryphon of Jeremiah C (4Q385b–390, presenting a jubilee periodization of covenant desolation), Pseudo-Moses presents the Mosaic revelatory tradition in its eschatological register. Moses here is not the lawgiver handing down the Torah but the prophet to whom God reveals the appointed times — the sequence of epochs that will unfold before the final restoration.

The text connects directly with other pseudo-Mosaic works in this collection. The Words of Moses (1Q22) preserves a Mosaic farewell address focused on covenant statutes and the calendar. The Apocryphon of Moses (4Q375–376) develops the prophetic verification oracle. Pseudo-Moses stands at the eschatological end of this tradition: Moses on the threshold of his death receives not legal instruction but vision — a prophetic survey of what awaits Israel beyond the Jordan.

The vocabulary, where preserved, belongs to the idiom of Qumran eschatology: the appointed times (קצים), the testing of the faithful, the memory of the wilderness generation. Fragment 18 preserves the wilderness theme most explicitly. The remaining fragments are silhouettes.

Fragment 18 — The Wilderness Generation

Fragment 18 is the best-preserved passage in the manuscript. The vocabulary of the forty-year wilderness wandering is clearly attested; the surrounding text is too damaged for continuous translation.

[...] forty years in the wilderness [...]

[Remainder of Fragment 18 too damaged for continuous translation.]

Fragments 1–17 — Vocabulary Traces

The remaining seventeen fragments are too small for continuous translation. Identifiable vocabulary belongs to the Mosaic and eschatological register: Moses, Israel, the appointed times, the covenant, and the fate of the wicked. No continuous clause is recoverable from any of these fragments alone.

Colophon

Text: 4Q385a — Pseudo-Moses (4QaposMoses^b)
Source: Qumran Cave 4
Language: Hebrew
Published: Devorah Dimant, Qumran Cave 4, XXI: Parabiblical Texts, Part 4, DJD XXX (Oxford: Clarendon, 2001).
Translation Method: Good Works Translation from Hebrew. 4Q385a is highly fragmentary; eighteen fragments survive, of which only Fragment 18 preserves recoverable vocabulary in its continuous context (the forty-years wilderness reference). The remaining fragments yield isolated vocabulary traces. No text has been fabricated or supplemented. English derives from direct reading of the attested Hebrew; the thematic framework draws on Dimant's DJD XXX analysis and the comparative pseudo-prophetic corpus at Qumran.
Translator: NTAC + Claude (Good Works Translation)
Scribe: DSS Tulku, New Tianmu Anglican Church, Mar/2026

🌲

Source Text

Hebrew transcription of 4Q385a (Cave 4, Qumran). Transcription follows Dimant, DJD XXX (Oxford: Clarendon, 2001). Eighteen fragments; Fragment 18 is the best-preserved. Lacunae marked [...]; no text supplied beyond attested readings.

Fragment 18

[...] אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה בַּמִּדְבָּר [...]

Fragments 1–17

Too fragmentary for transcription. Isolated vocabulary traces only: משה (Moses), ישראל (Israel), קצים (appointed times), ברית (covenant).

Source Colophon

Hebrew transcription of 4Q385a (4QaposMoses^b; also cited as 4QPseudo-Moses^b in some editions). Cave 4, Qumran. Published in Devorah Dimant, Qumran Cave 4, XXI: Parabiblical Texts, Part 4, DJD XXX (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001). Eighteen fragments; Fragment 18 is the best-attested passage. No Hebrew has been supplied beyond the attested DJD XXX readings.

🌲