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In Deuteronomy 4, Israel returns to God in the last days after suffering. In 4Q398 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the phrase about the last days is added to Deuteronomy 30, specifying when its promise of return will be fulfilled.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 4:30
Hebrew Bible
29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. 30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in future days, if you return to the Lord your God and obey him 31 (for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.
4Q398 14–17 i 5–8
4QMMT/The Halakhic Letter
Dead Sea Scrolls, Torah and Temple Practices
5 [it is written] that you [will turn aside from the way and] evil [will meet] you. And it is written, “And it shall be, when 6 [all] these [things come] upon you in the last days, the blessing 7 [and the] curse, [you will take it] to your heart and return to him with all your heart 8 [and with all] your soul [at the end of the time” …]
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Notes and References
“... Following a call to the addressee(s) to "study (carefully) the book
of Moses and the books of the Prophets and (the writings of) David
[and the events of] ages past" (C 10-12), our section begins (C
13-16) with a paraphrastic and reduced citation of Deut. 30:1-3,
"When all these things befall you-the blessing and the curse...-
and you take them to heart...
and you return to the LORD your
God . .. with all your heart and soul," inserting the temporal qualification,
"at the end of days," from Deut. 4:30.'Both Deut. 30:1-3 and 4:30
stress prophetically that after Israel has suffered the covenantal conse-
quences of their evil deeds, they will wholeheartedly return to God
and his commandments, as now stressed, "at the end of days." ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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