My Father and my God — do not abandon me into the hand of the nations.
— 4Q372 Fragment 1
The Apocryphon of Joseph (4Q371–373) is a Hebrew pseudepigraphical text preserved in three overlapping manuscripts from Cave 4. The major fragment (4Q372 Fragment 1) contains one of the most theologically striking passages in the entire Dead Sea Scrolls corpus: a prayer attributed to Joseph in which he addresses God as "my Father" — a mode of intimate personal address attested in Second Temple Judaism and illuminating the roots of "Abba" prayer.
The text sets Joseph alone among the nations — separated from his brothers, without comforter, appealing to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The prayer invokes the patriarchal covenant and pivots into an extended polemic against Ephraim: the northern tribes who have erected high places, built altars for shame, and abandoned the covenant. The language is charged with anti-Samaritan force — Shechem is named as a defiled land, its mount an abomination.
The composition belongs to the patriarchal pseudepigrapha alongside the Aramaic Levi Document, the Testament of Qahat, the Visions of Amram, and the Apocryphon of Joshua — texts that retell the lives of the ancestors to address the community's present covenantal crisis.
4Q371 (4QApocryphon of Joseph^a) and 4Q372 (4QApocryphon of Joseph^b) are the primary manuscripts. 4Q373 preserves a short related fragment. Fragment 1 of 4Q372 is the major text; its prayer passage (lines 8–18 approximately) is the best-preserved section.
The Prayer of Joseph
4Q372 Fragment 1
[...] And Joseph prayed and said:
My Father and my God — do not abandon me into the hand of the nations, for you did not scatter me among them. [...] Rule over me; incline your ear to me in my desolation.
Do good to me for the sake of Abraham your servant, and for the sake of Isaac your holy one, and for the sake of Jacob your chosen — men of covenant whom you chose from among all peoples.
For the sake of your covenant you redeemed them from the hand of their enemies, and you rescued them from the hand of the nations. Hear now the prayer of the one who calls upon you, for there is none other beside you. [...]
The Covenant and Its Breach
4Q372 Fragment 1, continued
[...] How long will you abandon us, O God of Israel? [...]
They have mocked [your holy mountain...] and built high places in their territory. Ephraim has abandoned your covenant. They have set up altars for shame and become abhorrent before you throughout all their land. They have despised your sanctuary. [...]
The mount of Shechem — they have defiled it before you with their abominations. [...]
False prophets have led them astray. They have gone after idols, and your name, O LORD, has not been called upon them in truth. [...]
Closing Appeal
4Q372 Fragment 1, continued
[...] You, O God — deliver me from their hand, for I am alone among the nations [...] and there is no comforter for me [...] and I have no helper but you.
Be with me, O God, and save me. [...]
Colophon
Apocryphon of Joseph (4Q371–373). Translated from the Hebrew, based on Eileen Schuller, "4Q372 1: A Text about Joseph," Revue de Qumran 14 (1990): 349–376, and Florentino García Martínez and Eibert Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Leiden: Brill, 1997–98), vol. 1, pp. 726–729. Fragment 1 of 4Q372 is heavily damaged. The prayer passage is the best-preserved section; the anti-Samaritan polemic section is more lacunose. All lacunae are marked; no text has been supplied into gaps. Section divisions follow the thematic structure of the surviving text.
New Tianmu Anglican Church Good Works Translation, from the Hebrew. March 2026.
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Source Text
4Q372 Fragment 1 (Apocryphon of Joseph^b)
The following preserves the key attested phrases of the major fragment. Line numbers are approximate; the full critical transcription is in Schuller (1990) and García Martínez & Tigchelaar DSSE vol. 1.
[...] [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [...]
[...] ויתפלל יוסף ויאמר
[...] אבי ואלהי אל תעזבני ביד הגוים
[...] כי לא זריתני בהם [...]
[...] השפל עלי [אוזנך] [...]
[...] היטיב לי בעבור אברהם עבדך
[...] ובעבור יצחק קדושך
[...] ובעבור יעקב בחירך
[...] אנשי ברית אשר בחרת מכל עמים
[...] בעבור בריתך [פדיתם] מיד אויביהם
[...] [ורחמ]תם מיד גוים
[...] שמע תפלת הקורא אליך
[...] כי אין עוד מבלעדיך [...]
[...] עד מתי תעזבנו אלהי ישראל [...]
[...] [...]
[...] לעגו ל[הר קד]שך [...]
[...] ויבנו במות בגבולם
[...] [אפר]ים עזב בריתך
[...] ויכינו מזבחות לבשת
[...] ויתעבו לפניך בכל [גבולם]
[...] בזו את מקד[שך]
[...] הר ש[כם] אשר טמאו לפניך בתועבותם
[...] נביאי [שקר] התעום
[...] וילכו אחר הגלולים
[...] ושמך ה׳ לא נקרא עליהם באמת [...]
[...] [...]
[...] ואתה אלהים הצילני מידם
[...] כי [לבד]די אני [בגוים...]
[...] ואין מנחם לי
[...] ואין עוזר לי [זולתך]
[...] היה עמי אלהים והושיע[ני...]
[...]
4Q371 Fragment 1 (Apocryphon of Joseph^a)
[...] בני יוסף [...]
[...] נשאר לבדו [...]
[...] [...]
4Q373 Fragment 1 (Apocryphon of Joseph^c)
[...] ואת בני [יוסף] [...]
[...]
Source Colophon
Hebrew transcription from Schuller, "4Q372 1: A Text about Joseph" (Revue de Qumran, 1990) and García Martínez & Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, vol. 1 (1997–98). Fragment 1 of 4Q372 is the primary fragment. The prayer passage (approximately lines 6–18) is the best-preserved section; subsequent lines are increasingly damaged. Brackets indicate lacunae; no text has been supplied into gaps. The source text gives only the securely attested phrases; for the complete transcription with full apparatus, consult the original Schuller publication and DJD.
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