Two paths lie open before you: one good, one evil. Walk the good way — and God will guard you. Walk the evil way — and the curse will find you.
Fragment 1
(Lines 1–4 preserve only isolated letters. No continuous translation is possible.)
Fragment 2
[...] a wonder [...]
and all [...]
[...]
If you walk in the good way,
[God] will guard you —
one path, one good [path].
But if you walk in the [evil] way —
evil and curse.
He will strike you with blight
and destroy you.
[He will strike you] with snow and frost —
hail and all [...]
with all [who go that way].
[Remainder too fragmentary to translate.]
Colophon
Source: 4Q473, Caves of Qumran (Cave 4), first century BCE. Two fragments. Published in Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, Vol. 3 (Yad Ben-Zvi, 2015). See also Martínez and Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997).
Tradition: Judean sectarian literature. The composition develops the Deuteronomic two-ways theology (Deut 11:26–28; 27–28) into a direct address, where the choice of path determines whether divine protection or divine curse follows. Fragment 2 preserves the core structure — the good way guarded, the evil way met with blight (shidaphon), snow, and hail — the same catalog of natural curses from Deuteronomy 28. The text is among the earliest witnesses to the Two Ways genre that would later appear in the Didache (first or second century CE), the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Manual of Discipline's entry rites (1QS III–IV).
Note on lacunae: Fragment 1 preserves only isolated letters (pele — wonder; ve-khol — and all). Fragment 2, lines 3–7, yields the main content; lines 1–2 and the closing lines are incomplete. Square brackets mark supplied or uncertain readings. Lacunae are not filled.
Translation: New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026 (from Hebrew transcription in Qimron composite edition). This translation is independent of existing English renderings.
🌲
Source Text: שני דרכים (4Q473)
Hebrew, Qumran Cave 4. Apparatus-verified vocabulary, after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, vol. 3 (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2015); primary publication: DJD (Oxford: Clarendon). Primary text body encoded in Miqdas Type1 font (non-extractable from Qimron PDF). Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured.
Apparatus-Confirmed Vocabulary
Fragment 2 — Core Two-Ways Structure:
[...] הדרך הטובה [...] (the good way — Deut 11:26–28 two-ways theology)
[...] שידפון [...] (blight/withering — Deut 28:22: "the LORD will smite
you with...blight and mildew")
[...] שלג [...] (snow — the catalog of natural curses from Deut 28)
[...] ברד [...] (hail — Deut 28:24: "thunder and hail")
4Q473 develops the Deuteronomic two-ways theology (Deut 11:26–28; 27–28) into direct address. Fragment 2's vocabulary (blight, snow, hail) matches the Deuteronomy 28 curse catalog precisely. The Two Ways genre reappears in the Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas.
Source Colophon
Apparatus-verified Hebrew after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, vol. 3 (Yad Ben-Zvi Press, 2015). Biblical cross-references: Deut 11:26–28; 27–28 (curse catalog). Parallel genre: Didache I–VI; 1QS III–IV (Two Spirits). Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured beyond recoverable readings.
Other Community Rule scrolls in the Good Work Library: Damascus Document · Halakha A · Miqsat Ma'ase Ha-Torah · Miscellaneous Rules · Ordinances · Rebukes of the Overseer · Sefer ha-Milhamah · Sefer ha-Milhamah — Source Text · The Community Rule · The Community Rule — Source Text · The Rule of Benedictions · The Rule of the Congregation · Ways of Righteousness (4Q421) · Ways of Righteousness (4Q421) — Source Text
🌲