Yah — and his seed to his generation.

(Lines too fragmentary for continuous translation. Only isolated phrases are recoverable.)

[...] his name [...] Yah [...] [...]

[...] and his seed to his generation [...] [...]

Colophon

Source: 4Q481e, Caves of Qumran (Cave 4), first century BCE. Published in Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, Vol. 3 (Yad Ben-Zvi, 2015). Primary publication: E. Tov et al., Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XXXVI (Oxford: Clarendon, 2000).

Tradition: Judean priestly and dynastic literature. 4Q481e preserves only a handful of recoverable phrases across its fragments. The central recoverable phrase — "his name... Yah / and his seed to his generation" — belongs to the repertoire of priestly and dynastic blessing. The formula parallels Numbers 25:13 ("a covenant of an everlasting priesthood for him and his seed after him"), the Aaronic covenant language of Sirach 45:24 ("and his seed shall be in blessing"), and the royal blessing of Psalm 72:17 ("his name shall endure; his name shall continue as long as the sun"). The invocation of the divine name Yah (יה) as an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton is attested in liturgical contexts across the Psalms (e.g., Psalm 68:4, 118:5) and particularly in the Hallelujah formula. In a DSS context, the combination of divine-name invocation with "seed to generation" vocabulary suggests a blessing composed for a priestly or royal figure — ensuring that the covenant promise of perpetual lineage was ritually affirmed. The fragment is too damaged for further reconstruction.

Note on lacunae: Only two recoverable phrases survive. No text has been restored beyond what the transcription directly yields. This file is a minimal translation stub reflecting the fragment's actual legibility.

Translation: New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026 (from Hebrew transcription in Qimron composite edition). This translation is independent of existing English renderings.

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