Wisdom

Pages

  • Admonitory ParableDead Sea Scroll (4Q302) — Cave 4 parable text about a good tree that grows to the heavens and yields rich fruit, then is ravaged; applies Psalm 80 and Jeremiah 11 to address the seed of Abraham
  • Ages of CreationA Good Works Translation of the Ages of Creation (4Q180-181) from Hebrew. A periodization of history from Noah to the end of days.
  • BeatitudesA Good Works Translation of the Beatitudes (4Q525) from Hebrew. Wisdom blessings from Qumran — blessed are those who seek wisdom with pure hands.
  • Beatitudes — Source TextSource text for Beatitudes
  • InstructionA Good Works Translation of the Instruction / Musar leMevin (4Q415–418) from Hebrew. A Dead Sea Scrolls wisdom text addressed to the understanding one, covering creation, poverty, marriage, parents, and eschatological judgment.
  • Instruction — Garden of Eden (4Q423)A Good Works Translation of 4Q423 from Hebrew — a Cave 4 companion to the Instruction manuscripts, distinctive for its Fragment 1 which recasts Genesis 2–3 as agricultural halakha for the Qumran community.
  • Meditation on Heaven and Earth (4Q459)A Good Works Translation of 4Q459, a Cave 4 Hebrew wisdom fragment — a meditation on Lebanon's pride and the proper order of creation, anchored in Psalm 115:16's division of heaven and earth
  • Meditation on Heaven and Earth (4Q459) — Source TextSource text: 4Q459 Hebrew — apparatus-confirmed readings of the Meditation on Heaven and Earth, Cave 4 fragment
  • Men of Few DeedsDead Sea Scroll (4Q306) — Qumran sapiential-prophetic text condemning those who transgressed on their festival days and withheld the firstfruits, left walking blind as dogs ate the offerings
  • MysteriesA Qumran wisdom scroll — the mystery of existence (raz nihyeh) divides those who understand the hidden order of creation from those who walk in darkness; iniquity will be sealed and truth will fill the earth.
  • Sapiential Text (4Q419)A Good Works Translation of 4Q419, a Cave 4 Hebrew sapiential text — anchored in Numbers 16:5 on divine selection and holiness, closing with warnings against the ways of wickedness
  • Sapiential Text (4Q419) — Source TextSource text: 4Q419 — Hebrew/Aramaic transcription for Sapiential Text (4Q419)
  • Sapiential WorkA Good Works Translation of 4Q185 (Sapiential Work) from Hebrew. A Qumran wisdom poem calling the sons of the world to seek Wisdom, who was given by God to Israel as a tree of life — and warning that no price can purchase her except by fearing the LORD.
  • Sapiential Work — Source TextSource text: 4Q185 — Hebrew/Aramaic transcription for Sapiential Work
  • Sapiential Work BCave 4 papyrus Hebrew wisdom fragments characterizing the stubborn sinner and calling the righteous to purify their heart.
  • Wiles of the Wicked WomanA Good Works Translation of the Wiles of the Wicked Woman (4Q184) from Hebrew. An allegorical poem on the seductions of evil, personified as a woman.
  • Wiles of the Wicked Woman — Source TextSource text: 4Q184 — Hebrew/Aramaic transcription for Wiles of the Wicked Woman