They became scorners. They crossed from day to day, renewing — and the dogs ate the flesh and the bones.
Introduction
Men of Few Deeds (4Q306) is a Cave 4 Hebrew manuscript published in DJD XXXVI (Lim, 2000). The title derives from Qimron's designation of the text's subject: those who are characterized by ma'ase me'atim, few or insufficient deeds — people who transgressed the Torah on their festival days and failed in their obligations, particularly the bringing of firstfruits.
The text is a prophetic-sapiential admonition. It does not argue; it depicts. Fragment 1 describes those who sinned on their festival days — they did not repent, they became scorners, and the consequence is visceral: the dogs ate the flesh and the bones, a biblical image of ultimate disgrace (1 Kings 14:11; 21:24). The specific transgression is the withholding of the grain firstfruits (reshit dagan) — the mandatory gift of the first portion of grain, wine, and oil prescribed in Deuteronomy 18:4 and 2 Chronicles 31:5. Those who refused or neglected this obligation left the priests without their portion, the altar without its offering, and themselves under judgment.
Fragment 2 draws on Isaiah 59:10 — we grope like the blind along a wall — to describe the moral condition of these transgressors. They walked in darkness. They had not seen. Then their eyes were opened — but too late. They were already guilty (meshe'im). The reference in the apparatus to 2 Samuel 3:1 (David grew stronger and the house of Saul grew weaker) suggests the text understood the contrast between the righteous who kept the festivals and the transgressors as a cosmic tide: the faithful grew; the neglectful failed.
The text is closely related in theme to the Damascus Document's historical survey of Israel's failures, the Apocryphon of Jeremiah C's jubilee-periodization of apostasy, and the Community Rule's insistence that the community's calendar observance is the mark of fidelity.
Three fragments survive. Fragments 1 and 2 yield translatable content. Fragment 3 is too lacunose.
Fragment 1
[Line 1:] Those who sinned on their festival days, they did not repent [...]
[Line 2:] For they crossed from day to day, renewing — and they became scorners [...]
[Line 3:] And all who walked in transgression of the Torah, all who [turned their faces from] [...]
[Line 4:] [...] the flesh of [Israel...]
[Line 5:] And the dogs ate the flesh and the bones with no [burial / with none to mourn] [...]
[Line 6:] They brought it out from his court [...] the priest [...]
[Line 7:] [...] those who stripped from them [...] the grain [...]
[Line 8:] And they removed the firstfruits of the grain, the wine, and the oil [...]
[Line 9: too fragmentary.]
Fragment 2
[Lines 1–2: too fragmentary.]
[Line 3:] [...] you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart [...] the Torah commanded [...]
[Line 4:] [...] like blind men groping along a wall, and their eyes weakened [...]
[Line 5:] [...] they walked in darkness and their sight [...] growing old [...]
[Line 6:] [...] until those who had turned aside had their eyes opened and they saw — for they are guilty [...]
[Fragment 3: too fragmentary for translation.]
Colophon
Translated from the Hebrew of 4Q306 (Cave 4, Qumran), published in DJD XXXVI (Lim, 2000). The Qimron composite edition (CC BY 4.0) was the primary working text. The text cites or echoes Deuteronomy 6:5, Deuteronomy 18:4, 2 Chronicles 31:5, Isaiah 59:10, and 1 Kings 21:24 (dogs eating flesh). The apparatus references 2 Samuel 3:1 as a structural parallel. Lacunae marked with square brackets throughout.
Good Works Translation — New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated by Tulku Shira.
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Source Text
4Q306 — Fragment 1
קטע א
[...] אשר פשעו ביום[ות] חגיהם ולא שב[ו ...]
כי עברו מיום [ל]יום ומחדש לחדש ויהיו בוזים [...]
וכל אשר [הלכו ב]עברת התורה כל [אשר ...]
[...] את בשר [ישראל...]
והכלבים אכלו הבשר והעצמות ואין [...]
הוציאוהו מחצרו [...] הכוה[ן ...]
[...] אשר גזלו מהם [...] הדגן [...]
ויסירו ראשית דגן תירוש ויצהר [...]
[...]
Apparatus: ראשית דגנך תירשך ויצהרך = Deuteronomy 18:4; ראשית דגן תירוש ויצהר ודבש = 2 Chronicles 31:5
4Q306 — Fragment 2
קטע ב
[...]
[...] ואהבת את יהוה אלוהיך בכל לבבך [... ה]מה [... ה]תורה ציוו [...]
[...] כ]עורים נגששה קיר וכאין עינים ועיניהם [...]
[...] הלכו בחשך ומראיהם [...] זקנה [...]
[...] עד אשר נסו[ג]ים ויפקחו עיניהם וראו כי הם משאים [...]
[...]
Apparatus: נגששה כעורים קיר וכאין עינים נגששה = Isaiah 59:10; ודויד הלוך וחזק ובית שאול הלכים ודלים = 2 Samuel 3:1
Source Colophon
Hebrew transcription of 4Q306 (Men of Few Deeds), Cave 4, Qumran. Published in DJD XXXVI (Lim, 2000), and included in the Qimron composite edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (CC BY 4.0, Zenodo 2020). Lacunae marked with brackets; biblical parallels noted in apparatus.
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