The spirit of Elijah has rested upon Elisha.

Fragment 2 (paralleling 2 Kings 2:14–16)

[...] for [...]

[... Eli]sha.

[...] Elisha crossed over. And they saw [him —]

[the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, watching him from a distance — and they said: "The spirit of Elijah has rested upon Eli]sha."

And they came to meet Elisha, and they bowed to him to the ground. And they said to him: "Look — among your servants there are [fifty men, warriors. Let them go and search for your lord. Perhaps the spirit of the] LORD [has lifted him and cast him upon one of the] mountain[s."]

Fragment 3 (very fragmentary)

[...] and he [...]

[...] facing him [...]

[...] in mourning, and he said: [...]

Colophon

Text: 4Q481a (4QApocryphon of Elisha), Cave 4, first century BCE. Three fragments; Fragment 2 is the principal text, preserving 2 Kings 2:14–16 in a slightly variant form. Published by J. Trebolle Barrera in DJD XXII (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), pp. 305–309, pl. XXX. Trebolle Barrera first announced the text in "Histoire du texte des livres historiques et histoire de la composition et de la rédaction deutéronomistes," Congress Volume Paris 1992 (VTSup 61; Leiden: Brill, 1995), pp. 327–342.

The manuscript parallels 2 Kings 2:14–16 with minor textual variants — notably the explicit object pronoun אותו ("him") in line 4, absent from the Masoretic Text. Fragment 3's בקינה ("in mourning/lamentation") suggests an apocryphal expansion: Elisha laments Elijah's departure rather than proceeding immediately to the commission scene of the MT. This places the text within the Qumran rewritten-scripture tradition.

Translation: Good Works Translation from Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Hebrew consulted in García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–1999), vol. 2, pp. 960–961. Lacunae reconstructed following MT 2 Kings 2:14–16 where the manuscript text is missing but clearly implied by context. All lacunae marked [...]; MT-based restorations in square brackets are labeled as such.

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Source Text

4Q481a — Fragment 2

Hebrew transcription from García Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 2, pp. 960–961 (Brill, 1997–1999). Published by J. Trebolle Barrera in DJD XXII (1996). Square brackets indicate lacunae; text within brackets is restored from context or from MT 2 Kings 2:14–16. The manuscript preserves 2 Kings 2:14–16 with minor variants.

]…[יא כי                                                                      1
]… אלי[שע                                                                     2
]… ו[יעל אלישע ויראו                                                          3
]בני הנביאים אשר ביריחו אותו מנגד ויאמרו נחה רוח אליהו על אליש[ע             4
]אלישע וישתחוו לו ארצה ויאמרו אליו הנה נא יש את     ויבאו לקרת               5
]בני חיל ילכו נא ויבקשו את אדוניך פן נשאו     עבדיך [חמשים אנשים             6
                                      רוח יהוה וישלכהו באחד ה[הר]ים[

4Q481a — Fragment 3

]…[ף והוא                                                                     1
]…[ לנגדו                                                                     2
]…[ך בקינה ויואמר                                                             3
                                                                          …]  4

Notes

Fragment 2, line 4: אותו מנגד — "him from a distance." The MT (2 Kgs 2:15) has simply מִנֶּגֶד without the object pronoun. The 4Q481a reading is a minor expansion.

Fragment 2, line 6: Partially preserved; the restoration follows MT 2 Kgs 2:16 closely.

Fragment 3, line 3: בקינה — "in mourning/lamentation" — is not present in the MT version of this passage. It suggests the apocryphon expanded Elisha's emotional response to the Elijah succession event.

Source Colophon

Source: Hebrew. Cave 4, Qumran. DJD XXII (Trebolle Barrera, 1996). Transcription consulted: García Martínez and Tigchelaar, DSSE (1997–1999).

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