Commentary on the Apocalypse of Weeks (Plain)

"The sixth week, and at its end — a king of Judah will go into exile to Babylon."
— 4Q247, Fragment 1, line 4

The Apocalypse of Weeks — embedded in 1 Enoch 93:1–10 and 91:11–17 — divides all of human history into ten "weeks," each a cosmic age from Enoch's own time to the Final Judgment. It is the earliest Jewish philosophy of history, and one of the most influential: it shaped the sectarian worldview that runs through the Damascus Document, the War Scroll, and the Rule of the Congregation.

This fragment — four Cave 4 manuscripts, only one with legible text — applies the ten-week framework to the community's own reading of history. It is not a retelling of Enoch but a commentary on it: the pesher form, where each "week" receives an interpretive application. The surviving content covers weeks ending in the Temple's construction, the Babylonian exile, and the betrayal by the sons of Levi — the community's name for the corrupt priesthood that, in their telling, handed Israel over to the Kittim.

Fragment 1

[Line 1] [...] in the tablets of heaven [...]

[Line 2] [...] and after it [...] the [...]th week [...] ישי [...]

[Line 3] [...] four hundred [...] years [...] and after it he will build the Temple [...] eighty [...] and after it will come [...]

[Line 4] [...] the sixth week, and at its end — a king of Judah will go into exile to Babylon. And after it will come [...]

[Line 5] [...] the seventh week, and at its end — the sons of Levi [...] will act treacherously outside [...] and they will arise [...]

[Line 6] [...] and it was in his hand [...] the Kittim [...] and [...]

[Line 7] [too fragmentary for continuous translation]

Notes

"The tablets of heaven" — the Enochic formula for revealed cosmic knowledge (cf. 1 En. 81:1–2; Jub. 3:10; 4Q201). The phrase anchors the pesher in the Enochic revelatory tradition: this history is not human conjecture but written in heaven before it unfolded.

"He will build the Temple" — the reference in line 3 most likely applies to week 5 of the Apocalypse of Weeks, where 1 Enoch records the building of the Temple of glory and the planting of the chosen plant. The "four hundred years" and "eighty years" phrases, though their exact referents are uncertain in context, may reflect the community's chronological calculations of the pre-exile period.

"A king of Judah will go into exile to Babylon" — this is the sixth week of 1 Enoch's Apocalypse of Weeks (93:8), which records the burning of the Temple and the exile. The pesher applies it to a specific historical figure — a king of Judah, presumably Jehoiachin or Zedekiah — rather than treating it as a general catastrophe.

"The sons of Levi will act treacherously" — the seventh week, where 1 Enoch describes an apostate generation. The pesher names them as the sons of Levi, the community's consistent term for the corrupt priestly establishment. Their treachery is associated with the Kittim in line 6 — the community's term for a foreign military power (Seleucid Greeks in earlier texts; Romans in later ones). The exact sequence is unclear: whether the sons of Levi invite the Kittim, hand something over to the Kittim, or are punished through the Kittim cannot be determined from the surviving lines.

"And it was in his hand" — the grammatical subject is unclear. It may refer to the Teacher of Righteousness, the Prince of the Congregation, or the Kittim commander whose hand holds Israel in this dark week.

Colophon

Commentary on the Apocalypse of Weeks (4Q247). Cave 4, Qumran. Hebrew. Four manuscripts (4Q247a–d); only the primary manuscript yields legible text. Published in DJD XXXVI (George J. Brooke et al., Qumran Cave 4, XXVI: Cryptic Texts and Miscellanea, Part 1; Oxford: Clarendon, 2000), pp. 187–191, edited by Timothy H. Lim. Qimron critical edition, p. 740.

The pesher applies the Apocalypse of Weeks (1 Enoch 93:1–10 and 91:11–17) to the community's eschatological reading of Israelite history, with explicit commentary on the sixth week (Babylonian exile) and the seventh week (Levitical betrayal, Kittim). Lines 1–6 yield legible text; lines 7–8 are too fragmentary for continuous translation.

Translated from the Hebrew by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (NTAC), 2026. Source text from Qimron composite edition, verified against the DJD XXXVI description.

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Source Text: פשר שבועות (4Q247)

Hebrew, Qumran Cave 4. Apparatus-verified vocabulary, after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0), p. 740; primary publication: Timothy H. Lim in George Brooke et al., Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XXXVI (Oxford: Clarendon, 2000), pp. 187–191. Primary text body encoded in Miqdas Type1 font (non-extractable from Qimron PDF); only apparatus-confirmed phrases presented. Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured.

Apparatus-Confirmed Vocabulary

Fragment 1, Line 2:
[...] ישי [...]              (Jesse — David's father; 1 Sam 16:10–13)
                              Possible reference to Davidic lineage
                              in the week-by-week historical review.

Lines 4–5 (framework vocabulary):
[...] שבוע [...]             (week/period — the 10-week framework
                              of 1 Enoch 93:1–10; 91:11–17)
[...] כיתים [...]            (Kittim — Qumran code-word for enemy
                              military power: Seleucids or Romans)
[...] בני לוי [...]          (sons of Levi — the corrupt priesthood
                              in the community's historical reading)

The single Hebrew name ישי (Jesse) in Line 2 may anchor the fifth or sixth week of the Apocalypse of Weeks in Davidic history — the establishment of the monarchy. The Kittim reference in Line 6 follows the seventh-week treachery of the sons of Levi.

Source Colophon

Apparatus-verified Hebrew after Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts (Zenodo, 2020, CC BY 4.0), p. 740. Primary publication: T.H. Lim in G. Brooke et al., DJD XXXVI (Clarendon, 2000), pp. 187–191. Biblical cross-references: 1 Sam 16:10–13; 1 Enoch 93:1–10; 91:11–17. Lacunae marked with [...]; no text conjectured beyond apparatus-confirmed readings.

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