Blessed is the God of Israel, who gave us joy to praise his name — elders and young men, women and virgins, all together.
Six fragmentary manuscripts survive from Cave 4. The Hebrew title in the Qimron composite edition is ברכות למשפחה — Blessings for the Family. The text is a liturgical ceremony of communal blessing, unique in the Dead Sea Scrolls corpus for involving the entire household: the husband, the wife (called bat emet, daughter of truth), and all generations of the assembled community.
The key participants named across the fragments are: ish (man/husband), re'iyya (companion/wife), bat emet (daughter of truth), avot (fathers), zekenim (elders), ashishim (aged men), nashim (women), bachurim (young men), betulot (virgins), ne'arim (young men), ne'arot (young women), and atutatim (little ones/toddlers). The entire range of human life assembles to bless.
The ceremony moves in three stages. First, a blessing is spoken over the man and his union — his wife is called bat emet, a daughter of truth, and God is asked to give wisdom and understanding (binah) to their household. Second, a congregational blessing erupts: Barukh El Yisra'el asher natan lanu... — Blessed is the God of Israel who gave us joy, who fills the earth and sea with his abundance. Third, all generations respond together in unison: the aged, women, young men, virgins, children — all praise in the midst of the council of elders, and the prayer concludes with a blessing of peace over the couple's days.
The phrase kedushat zera — the holiness of offspring — appears alongside the statute (hok) governing the couple's union, suggesting the ceremony was embedded in the community's halakhic framework for marriage. The bat emet (daughter of truth) is a sectarian title, parallel to benei emet (children of truth) elsewhere in the scrolls, marking the wife as a full covenant member.
Fragment 1
[...] acknowledges [...]
the statute [...] a man
his wife [...] to produce
offspring [...] holy
[...] his companion [...]
the father [...]
the season of [...] to the children of [...]
[...] holy [...]
giving thanks [...]
daughter of truth [...] and
to go [...] and he gave [...]
wisdom and understanding in the midst of [...]
to be [...] covering [...]
Fragment 9
[...] he will bless [...]
Blessed is the God of Israel, who gave us joy to praise his name —
their elders and young men,
women and
[...] in our encampments and what creeps along the ground
and the bird that flies in the heavens
and our soil and all its produce
with all the fruit of the season
and the waters of its depths — all together
blessing the name of the God of Israel,
who gave us [...] for our joy,
and also [...] the record of thanksgivings
in the midst of the elders of righteousness.
[...] in peace [...]
I give thanks to God and praise in his praise.
In his praise: Brothers to me the aged — elders in my midst.
[...] holy ones [...]
This day I bless, I bless the God of Israel and acknowledge [...]
in the midst of the elders [...]
[...] his glory [...]
[...] the God of Israel, who commanded the children of
righteousness:
love of kindness [...] his glory [...]
to increase sons and daughters [...]
Fragment 19 (or 29)
And [they] gathered — the aged and the young:
elders and young men
women and aged men
young men
virgins and young men
young women
— all of them together, and I [...]
The men shall speak; they answered and said:
Blessed —
Blessed is the God of Israel, who helped
[to conceive] a living [child]
in the midst of an eternal people.
May your people be in the council of the elders.
May your days be in peace.
[...] daughter [...] known [...] blood [...] young men
[...] little ones [...]
In the midst of those who praise —
aged and women,
praising [...].
Colophon
Blessings for the Family (4Q502) — six Cave 4 Hebrew manuscripts. Translated from the Hebrew transcription in Elisha Qimron, The Qumran Texts: A Composite Edition (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0, 2020), pp. 325–327. Good Works Translation: New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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