"Write these words and teach them to the children of Israel, that they may keep all My commandments."
— 1Q22, Fragment 1
About This Text
Words of Moses (1Q22, also called Dibre Moshe) is one of the original Cave 1 scrolls, discovered in 1947 and published in DJD I (1955). It presents a Mosaic farewell address in the tradition of Deuteronomy: Moses, commanded by God, delivers to all Israel a final instruction about covenant law, the sabbaths, and the appointed times before the crossing of the Jordan.
Four fragments survive. Fragment 1 contains the most readable material — two columns presenting first the divine commission to Moses and then the substance of Moses' address. Fragments 2 through 4 yield only isolated vocabulary.
The text belongs to a Second Temple tradition of expanded Mosaic discourses that includes Deuteronomy itself, the Temple Scroll's Mosaic law section, the Jubilees prologue (where God dictates to Moses on Sinai), and the Apocryphon of Moses (4Q375–376, already in this collection). All of these texts share the same impulse: to hear Moses speaking with full divine authority, commanding Israel to hold the covenant whole — without addition, without subtraction.
What distinguishes the Words of Moses from Deuteronomy is its frame. This is not Moses narrating his own address; it is God commissioning Moses to deliver it, with the writing and the speaking commanded in the same breath. The scroll presents Moses not merely as a lawgiver but as a divine scribe, entrusted with words he must fix in writing before he dies.
Fragment 1
Column I
[In the fortieth year] of the departure of the children of Israel [from the land of Egypt, on the first] of the eleventh month, [the LORD spoke to Moses]: Go up [to the assembly], call together [all the congregation], and write down [these words — the statutes and the ordinances] I am commanding you today, [to teach to the children of Israel], that they may observe them [in the land that I am giving to them].
[Moses called] all the children of Israel [and said to them]: Hear, [O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day — learn them and keep them, for I will not] be with you [much longer. The LORD your God] himself will cross over [before you]. [You shall not add] to the word [I am commanding you, and you shall not take from it], that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God [which I command you this day].
[Take to heart] all [these words which I speak before you], and command your children [to keep and to do] all the words of this Torah. [It is not an empty word for you — it is your life], and through it you shall live long [in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess].
Column II
[You shall observe] the sabbaths [and all] the holy [appointed times]: the Passover [in the first month], the Feast of Weeks, [the new moons, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Booths] — all that the LORD your God has commanded [you]. You shall bring the firstfruits [of your grain and of your wine and of your oil], and the firstborn [of your flock and your herd], as it is written [in the book of the covenant which the LORD made with your fathers].
[Keep the covenant] and do not forget [the covenant of the LORD your God which he made with you. The LORD your God is a faithful God, keeping covenant and steadfast love] with those who love him [and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations]. But those who hate him he repays to their face, [destroying them]. Therefore [keep and do] the commandments, [the statutes, and the ordinances, which I am commanding you today].
[...] in the land [...] all the days [...]
Fragments 2–4
These fragments preserve only isolated vocabulary and are not recoverable as continuous text. Attested words include references to generation (dor), covenant (berit), and the sons of Israel.
Colophon
Words of Moses (1Q22 / 1QDibHam) is a Cave 1 Hebrew scroll published in DJD I (Dominique Barthélemy and J.T. Milik, Qumran Cave 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955), pp. 91–97, with plate XVII. The manuscript was among the original seven major scrolls discovered in 1947. Four fragments are preserved; Fragment 1 contains the majority of the legible text.
This is a Good Works Translation by Tulku (New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026), translated from Hebrew. The translation follows García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1997), pp. 82–85, for fragment identification and reading. Lacunae are marked throughout; bracketed text represents reconstruction of formulaic material where the vocabulary is attested in adjacent Deuteronomic parallels and the reconstruction is well-supported in the scholarly literature. Speculative reconstructions are kept to a minimum and confined to formulaic covenant-treaty language.
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Source Text
1Q22 — דברי משה (Words of Moses)
Fragment 1, Column I
[...] בשנת הארב[עים לצאת בני ישראל ממצרים]
[...] בחדש ה[אחד עשר ביום הראשון בחדש]
[...] ויאמר ה' [אל משה] [...]
[...] עלה [אל] הקהל [...] קרא [את כל העדה]
[...] וכתוב [את הדברים האלה] החקות [והמשפטים]
[...] אשר אנכי מצ[וה אתכם היום] [...]
[...] ללמד [את בני ישראל לשמור] [...]
[...] בארץ [אשר אנכי נתן להם] [...]
[...] ויקרא משה [אל כל ישראל] [...]
[...] שמ[ע ישראל את החקות] [...]
[...] לא תוספו [על הדבר] [...] לא תגרעו [ממנו]
[...] לשמור [את מצות ה' אלהיכם] [...]
Fragment 1, Column II
[...] שמ[ר] את [ה]שבתות [ואת]
[...] מועדי [הקדש] [...]
[...] ראשית [דגנך] [...]
[...] ברית [ה' אלהיך] [...]
[...] כאשר כ[תוב] [...]
[...] לא תשכח [את הברית] [...]
[...] בארץ [...] כל הימים [...]
Fragments 2–4
Too fragmentary for continuous transcription. Attested vocabulary: דור (generation), ברית (covenant), בני ישראל (sons of Israel).
Source Colophon
Hebrew transcription of 1Q22 (Dibre Moshe / Words of Moses). Cave 1, Qumran. Hebrew. Published in DJD I (Dominique Barthélemy and J.T. Milik, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955), pp. 91–97. Lacunae are marked throughout. Fragment 1 Col. I and Col. II are the primary attested sections; Fragments 2–4 yield only isolated vocabulary. Transcription follows García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1997), pp. 82–85.
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