"He gave to the angels — and the earth he gave to the children of men."
— 4Q459, apparatus-confirmed after Psalm 115:16

4Q459 — Cave 4 Hebrew Fragment — Dead Sea Scrolls

4Q459 is a Cave 4 Hebrew text written on both sides of the leather — recto and verso — suggesting it circulated as a standalone document. Published in DJD XXXVI (Pfann, Kister, et al., 2000), pp. 366–368. Four lines partially survive, plus a damaged pre-line. The text is a wisdom meditation on the proper ordering of heaven and earth, and on the pride that violates that order.

The fragment opens with Lebanon. In the prophetic tradition, Lebanon's towering cedars stand for pride brought low: Isaiah 10:33–34 pictures the LORD felling Lebanon's majestic trees as the sign of his sovereignty; Jeremiah 22:6–7 uses Lebanon's heights as an image of coming devastation for Judah's kings; Ezekiel 31 makes the great cedar of Lebanon an allegory for Egypt's pharaoh, who exalted himself to heaven and was cast down to Sheol. In 4Q459, Lebanon's exaltation (הגביהו) stands in this same prophetic line. Someone — a nation, a ruler, a spirit — has raised itself up beyond its appointed place.

The second line introduces the counter-claim: those who "know my Lord God" — in the tradition of Hosea 4:1 and Jeremiah 22:16, where to know God is to live rightly within the created order — these are the ones who recognize what God has done with the heavens. This sets up the Psalm 115:16 citation that anchors the third line. The Qumran text expands the psalm slightly: "he gave to the angels, and the earth he gave to the children of men." Where Psalm 115 divides the cosmos into heaven (the LORD's) and earth (humanity's), 4Q459 adds a middle tier — the angels receive the heavens, humanity receives the earth, and God himself is above both. The three-tiered cosmos is familiar from Second Temple angelology: Deuteronomy 32:8–9 assigns the nations to the sons of God; Sirach 17:17 echoes the same idea. Lebanon's sin was aspiring above its tier — reaching for the angelic realm, or for God's own domain.

The closing "yet not [...]" delivers the consequence: those who exalt themselves do not receive what they grasped. The earth belongs to those who know God and live in their portion.

Fragment 1

[...] [...] truth [...]

Lebanon: they exalted themselves —
their will [...] and not [...]

They knew my Lord God — [who made] the heavens.

He gave to the angels,
and the earth he gave to the children of men —

Yet not [...].

Colophon

Translated from the Hebrew (4Q459) by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (NTAC). Source: Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls — The Hebrew Writings, vol. 1 (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2010), pp. 366–368, with reference to DJD XXXVI (Pfann, Kister, et al.; Oxford: Clarendon, 2000). Scribal credit: Tulku of the Dead Sea Scrolls lineage, Mar 2026. Translation from the Hebrew. Gaps indicated by [...]. Lacunae not filled.

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