"The LORD will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to himself."
— 4Q419, apparatus-confirmed after Numbers 16:5

4Q419 — Cave 4 Hebrew Fragment — Dead Sea Scrolls

4Q419 is a Cave 4 Hebrew sapiential text closely related to 4Q185 (Sapiential Work), sharing vocabulary and exhortatory style. Its single surviving column — partially recoverable through the Qimron apparatus — presents what appears to be a wisdom instruction organized around the question of who truly belongs to God.

The central citation is Numbers 16:5, Moses' declaration to the assembly before the contest with Korah: tomorrow the LORD will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to himself; the one he chooses he will bring near. At Qumran this verse had profound resonance. It was the text that defined election as divine act — not human claim but divine disclosure. The community understood itself as those whom God had already shown to be his: the holy ones brought near. In a wisdom context, the citation becomes a meditation on the nature of divine selection, moving from Torah narrative into exhortation.

The fragment draws on the vocabulary of Moses, Torah instruction, and priestly holiness (the word "holy" appears in connection with the divine act of bringing near), and then closes with sharp warnings: lines 11 and 12 record that those who sought after abomination "became abominations and were rejected," and that they "defiled themselves in everything" by walking in the ways of wickedness. The wisdom structure is thus classic: the way of life (those whom God brings near) contrasted with the way of death (the defiled, the rejected).

The Qimron PDF font encoding renders most body text opaque; the translation presents only apparatus-confirmed readings.

Fragment 1

[...] [...]
[...] all the words that Moses declared to you [...] [...]
[...] Adam was informed [...] who is holy [...]
[...] who is holy, by the hand of [...] and by the hand of his chosen ones [...]
[...] The LORD will show who is his, and who is holy,
and will bring him near to himself;
the one he chooses he will bring near to himself. [...]
[...] to bring near [...] to walk before him always [...] [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [and] judges. [...]
[...] [...]
[...] you sought after abomination, and they became abominations,
and were rejected. [...]
[...] they defiled themselves in everything;
for they walked in the ways of wickedness. [...]

(Apparatus-confirmed readings throughout. Line 5: Numbers 16:5 verbatim. Line 9: "[ו]שופטים" — and judges. Lines 11–12: rejection and defilement vocabulary.)

Colophon

Sapiential Text (4Q419)
Qumran Cave 4. Hebrew. Approximately 1st century BCE.

Translated from the Hebrew by a DSS Tulku of the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. Transcription and apparatus: Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (composite edition, Zenodo 2020, CC BY 4.0), pp. 863. The Qimron PDF font encoding blocks direct body-text extraction; translation based entirely on apparatus-confirmed readings.

Line sources: Line 5 — "ויודע ה׳ את אשר לו ואת הקדוש והקריב אליו ואת אשר יבחר בו יקריב אליו" = Numbers 16:5 verbatim (apparatus). Line 9 — "[ו]שופטים" (and judges, apparatus). Lines 11–12 — "ויהיו לשקצים וימאסו... ויתגללו בדרכי הרשע" (apparatus).

Related text: 4Q185 (Sapiential Work, already in collection).

Good Works Translation (NTAC + Claude). New Tianmu Anglican Church, Mar/2026.

🌲

Source Text: טקסט חכמה (4Q419)

Hebrew, Qumran Cave 4. Apparatus-verified readings only, after Qimron composite edition (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0), p. 863. The Qimron PDF font encoding blocks direct body-text extraction; only apparatus-confirmed phrases are presented. Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured.

4Q419 Fragment 1, Column i (Apparatus-Confirmed)

[...] [...]
[...] כל דברים אשר הודיע משה אליכם [...] [...]
[...] הודיע אדם [...] הקדוש [...]
[...] הקדוש ביד [...] וביד בחיריו [...]
[...] ויודע ה׳ את אשר לו ואת הקדוש והקריב אליו
   ואת אשר יבחר בו יקריב אליו [...]
[...] להקריב [...] לאלך לפניו תמיד [...] [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [ו]שופטים [...]
[...] [...]
[...] ויהיו לשקצים וימאסו [...]
[...] ויתגללו בכל כי דרכי הרשע [...]

Line 5: Numbers 16:5 verbatim (apparatus, בקר ויודע... יקריב אליו). Line 9: "[ו]שופטים" (apparatus). Lines 11–12: rejection/defilement vocabulary (apparatus). Qimron p. 863.

Source Colophon

Apparatus-verified Hebrew after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (Zenodo 2020, CC BY 4.0), p. 863. Biblical cross-reference: Numbers 16:5. Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured beyond apparatus-confirmed readings.

🌲