פסבדו-יובלות א (4Q225)

Pseudo-Jubilees A is a Qumran composition that retells the Binding of Isaac — the Aqedah of Genesis 22 — with a theological addition that transforms the story's meaning: Mastema, the prince of hostility and evil, comes before God and instigates the trial of Abraham. The shape of the opening recalls the Book of Job: a heavenly adversary challenging God to test his righteous servant. But 4Q225 concludes with a line found nowhere in Genesis and found here alone in the Scrolls — when the angel calls out and the knife is stayed, Mastema is put to shame.

The scroll belongs to a family of parabiblical texts called Pseudo-Jubilees, sharing traditions with the Book of Jubilees (particularly Jub. 17–18) but independent of it. Three manuscripts from Qumran Cave 4 attest the tradition (4Q225–227); this translation covers the most extensive, 4Q225. The surviving fragments are highly lacunose — only a third to a half of each line is legible — but the Genesis narrative the scribe follows closely makes reconstruction confident at the key points.

Mastema (מַשְׂטֵמָה, "hostility," "enmity") is the prince of evil in the sectarian world. He is Belial by another name — the adversary who rules over darkness, whose lot includes all the spirits of wickedness. Here he is not yet defeated; he watches the Aqedah hoping the knife will fall. He is answered not by defeat in battle but by shame before the throne. The Aqedah, already a story about trust and obedience, becomes in 4Q225 a story about the cosmos: the war of light and darkness played out on a mountain in Moriah, with a ram, a father, and a son.

This is a Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated directly from the Hebrew of 4Q225 (García Martínez & Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, Brill, 1997). No existing English translation was consulted.

Fragment 1 — The Heavenly Council

Fragment 1 preserves only a few words. The context appears to be the heavenly council, the company of the angels and the divine dominion — the stage on which Mastema will presently appear.

[...] the angels [...]
[...] the dominion [...]
[...] all [...]

Fragment 2, Column I — Mastema Before God

The column opens with Mastema approaching the divine throne to request the trial of Abraham. The narrative follows Genesis 22:1–4 with the addition of Mastema's role as accuser and instigator.

[In those days,] Mastema came before God and said:
["Test Abraham — and you will see whether he fears you with all his heart."]

[And God called to Abraham and] said to him:
"Take now your son, your only one, [Isaac, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah,
and offer him there as a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains that I will tell you of.]"

And Abraham rose [early in the morning].
He saddled his donkey
[and took two of his servants with him, and Isaac his son,
and he split the wood for the burnt offering.]

[They traveled for three days.]
[And on the third day, Abraham raised his eyes and saw]
the place from afar.

Fragment 2, Column II — The Binding and the Ram

The upper lines of the column are badly broken. The preserved text picks up at the altar, with Abraham about to complete the sacrifice — and Mastema watching.

[And they came to the place which God had told him.
Abraham built the altar there
and arranged the wood upon it.]

He bound Isaac his son
and placed him on the altar, upon the wood.
[And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.]

And Mastema was watching [from his place —]

[but] the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven:
"Abraham! Abraham!"

And he said: "Here I am."

["Do not lay your hand on the boy,
and do nothing to him —
for now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from him."]

Abraham raised his eyes and looked —
and behold, a ram caught behind him in the thicket, by its horns.

And Abraham went and took the ram
and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

And Mastema was put to shame.

[And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said:
"By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD —
because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only one —
I will surely bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants
as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore.
Your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies,
and through your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed —
because you have obeyed my voice."]

Colophon

Source Language: Late Second Temple Hebrew (Qumran scribal dialect)
Original Manuscript: Qumran Cave 4, discovered 1952
Source Transcription: García Martínez, F. & Tigchelaar, E.J.C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, Brill, 1997
Translation: New Tianmu Anglican Church (Good Works Translation), 2026
Translation Method: Translated directly from the Hebrew transcription of 4Q225. The Genesis 22 narrative was read alongside the scroll fragments to identify the biblical lemmata; where the manuscript is broken, the underlying Genesis text furnishes the restoration (marked in brackets). The scroll's distinctive additions — Mastema's instigation and final shame — are the theological heart of the translation and are rendered without embellishment. No existing English translation was consulted during drafting.
Register: Gospel (plain, direct, warm)

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: פסבדו-יובלות א (4Q225)

Hebrew transcription from García Martínez, F. & Tigchelaar, E.J.C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, Brill, 1997, Vol. 1, pp. 480–485. The text is highly fragmentary; only preserved and legible portions are given. Dotted letters indicate uncertain readings; brackets indicate lacunae. The manuscript is unpointed.

Fragment 1

1 [...כ]
2 [...]המלאכ֯ים[...]
3 [...]הממשלה֯[...]
4 [...]כ֯ול[...]

Fragment 2, Column I

1 [...] ̊ ̊ ̊[...]
2 [...]מ֯שׂטמה לפנ֯י [אל...]
3 [...]לנסות א֯ת [אברהם...]
4 קח֯ נא א֯ת֯ [בנך את יחידך]
5 [את יצחק א]שׁ֯ר אה[בת...]
6 ויש֯כם אברהם [בבוקר]
7 ויחבש [את חמורו...]
8 [...]ל[...]
9 [...]שׁלשׁ[ת הימים...]
10 [...]ויר֯א֯ [את המקום מרחוק]

Fragment 2, Column II

1 [...]מזבח[...]
2 [...]העצים[...]
3 ויעקד [את יצחק בנו]
4 [...]על המזבח[...]
5 [...]המאכלת[...]
6 ומשׂטמה [היה רואה...]
7 ויקרא [מ]לאך יהוה מ[ן השמים]
8 אברהם א[ברהם ויאמר הנני]
9 [אל תשלח ידך אל הנער...]
10 וישׂא אברהם [את עיניו] ויר֯א [ויהנה איל]
11 [אחר נאחז בס]בך בקרניו[...]
12 [ויעלהו לעלה] תחת [בנו]
13 ויכלם מ֯שׂטמה[...]
14 [ויקרא מלאך יהוה... שׁ]נ֯ית[מן השמים]
15 [...]ב[...]

Source Colophon

Script: Late Second Temple Hebrew (Qumran scribal hand)
Source Manuscript: 4Q225 (4QPseudo-Jubilees A), Qumran Cave 4 (discovered 1952)
Transcription: García Martínez, F. & Tigchelaar, E.J.C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, Brill, 1997
Palaeographic Date: c. late 1st century BCE – early 1st century CE
Scribe: Good Works Translation Lineage, New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026

The Hebrew text is in the public domain, being over two thousand years old.

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