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4Q184

The Seductress

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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 Isaiah 33:14 and 4Q184 1:7

Hebrew Bible · Dead Sea Scrolls, Wisdom and Instruction

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Summary

Isaiah asks who can live with unquenchable fire and answers with a description of the righteous. In 4Q184 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, everlasting fire becomes the dwelling of the wicked woman, suggesting punishment after death.

Passages

Isaiah 33:14

Hebrew Bible
14 Sinners are afraid in Zion; panic grips the godless. They say, “Who among us can coexist with destructive fire? Who among us can coexist with unquenchable fire?” 15 The one who lives uprightly and speaks honestly, the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures and rejects a bribe, the one who does not plot violent crimes and does not seek to harm others— 16 this is the person who will live in a secure place; he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds; he will have food and a constant supply of water.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

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

References

“... These expressions do not describe the time of night when the woman stalks through city streets, as in Prov 7. It is the darkness of the underworld where she resides. 4Q184 elaborates the claim in Proverbs that the Strange Woman represents a path to death. The language of darkness and death is intensified with a more vivid description of Sheol than in Proverbs. [...] The tents of the woman are in the midst of "eternal flames" [...] (4Q184 1 7; cf. Isa 33:14). 50 Proverbs never describes the Strange Woman in this way. The "eternal flames" suggest that the author of 4Q184 believed in punishment after death. ...”
Matthew J. Goff, Discerning Wisdom: The Sapiential Literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 115.

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

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Isaiah 33:14 and 4Q184 1:7

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