Fragment 1

1 [From her mouth] she brings out emptiness, and in […] worthlessness. She seeks errors always, [and with her tongue] she sharpens her words. [With mockery] 2 and scorn she speaks smoothly, to deride altogether with lips of iniquity. Her heart sets up recklessness, and her inward parts are snares [of the pit. Her palms] 3 are defiled with iniquity;⁠ her hands grasp the pit. Her feet go down to do wickedness and to walk in guilt […] 4 foundations of darkness; a multitude of transgressions is in her skirts. … the gloom of night, and her clothing […] 5 Her coverings are the deep darkness of twilight, and her ornaments are plagues of the pit. Her couches, her beds, are beds of Sheol⁠ […] 6 depths of the pit. Her lodgings are couches of darkness, and in the dead of night are her dominions. From the foundations of deep darkness 7 she pitches her dwelling, and she resides in the tents of silence, in the midst of everlasting burnings.⁠ She has no inheritance among all⁠ 8 the lights of brightness.⁠ She is the beginning of all the ways of iniquity. Woe, disaster to all who inherit her, and ruin to all 9 who hold on to her. For her ways are ways of death,⁠ and her paths are tracks of sin. Her trails lead astray 10 into iniquity, and her pathways are the guilt of transgression. Her gates are gates of death; at the entrance of her house she strides. To Sheol 11 all [who go in to her shall not] return, and all who inherit her will go down to the pit. She lies in wait in hidden places … […] 12 all […] In the city squares she veils herself, and in the gates of towns she takes her stand, and there is no one to stop her 13 from … always. Her eyes dart here and there, and she lifts her eyelids wantonly to look at a 14 righteous man and overtake him, and at a mighty man and make him stumble;⁠ to turn the upright from the way, and the righteous chosen ones 15 from keeping the commandment; to make fools of those who are steadfast … with wantonness, and to make those who walk uprightly change the statute; to make 16 the humble rebel against God, and to turn their steps from the ways of righteousness; to bring insolence into their heart, so that they do not tread 17 in the paths of uprightness; to lead a person astray into the ways of the pit, and to seduce with smooth words [all] the sons of man.

Texts in conversation

Compare 4Q184 1 7 and Matthew 25:41

Dead Sea Scrolls, Wisdom and Instruction · New Testament

Summary

The Dead Sea Scroll 4Q184 personifies sin as a seductive woman whose followers inherit eternal fire, contrasted with the righteous. This resembles Jesus’ description of eternal fire, based on interpretive traditions of texts like Isaiah and Ezekiel.

Passages

4Q184 1 7

Dead Sea Scrolls, Wisdom and Instruction · The Seductress

5 Her coverings are the deep darkness of twilight, and her ornaments are plagues of the pit. Her couches, her beds, are beds of Sheol […] 6 depths of the pit. Her lodgings are couches of darkness, and in the dead of night are her dominions. From the foundations of deep darkness 7 she pitches her dwelling, and she resides in the tents of silence, in the midst of everlasting burnings. She has no inheritance among all 8 the lights of brightness. She is the beginning of all the ways of iniquity. Woe, disaster to all who inherit her, and ruin to all 9 who hold on to her. For her ways are ways of death, and her paths are tracks of sin. Her trails lead astray 10 into iniquity, and her pathways are the guilt of transgression. Her gates are gates of death; at the entrance of her house she strides. To Sheol

100–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q184

Matthew 25:41

New Testament

39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. 43 I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... The last couplet of this first section introduces the theme of the fate of Lady Folly and those who are seduced by her: “Amid everlasting fire is her inheritance, not among all those who shine brightly.” Those who shine brightly are presumably the stars or the angels—the kind of imagery used in Daniel 12:3 to describe the immortality to be enjoyed by the righteous at the resurrection from the dead. The everlasting fire is on the other hand the abode of the wicked as in Matthew 25:41: “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” In this respect—the theme of the eternal rewards for following Lady Wisdom and the eternal punishment for following Lady Folly, the Qumran text goes beyond what appears in its biblical model, Proverbs 1–9 ..."

Daniel J. Harrington, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, Literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls (London: Routledge, 1996), 33.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Fragment 1

4Q1846 chapters

Compare 4Q184 1 7 and Matthew 25:41

Summary

Passages

4Q184 1 7

Matthew 25:41

References

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