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4Q213b

Aramaic Levi c

Fragment 1

1 […] I have favored you above all flesh […] 2 [… And those seven departed from me,] and I awoke from my sleep. Then 3 [I said, “This is a vision, and so I am amazed⁠ that I should have any vision at all.”] And I hid this too in my heart, and to no one 4 [did I reveal it. And we went to my father Isaac, and he too blessed me in this way. Then,] when Jacob my father was tithing⁠ 5 [everything that he had, according to his vow, I was first at the head of] the priesthood, and to me, of all his sons, he gave 6 [an offering to God. He clothed me in the garment of the priesthood and consecrated me, and I became a priest of] the eternal God […]

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Compare Genesis 28:22 and 4Q213b 1 4

Hebrew Bible · Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings

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Summary

In Genesis, Jacob vows to give God a tenth of everything he receives. In 4Q213b, a Dead Sea Scrolls copy of the Aramaic Levi Document, Jacob fulfills the vow by giving tithes to Levi, linking the promise to Levi’s priesthood.

Passages

Genesis 28:22

Hebrew Bible
18 Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone. Then he poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear, 21 and I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will become my God. 22 Then this stone that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely give you back a tenth of everything you give me.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

4Q213b 1 4

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings · Aramaic Levi c
2 [… And those seven departed from me,] and I awoke from my sleep. Then 3 [I said, “This is a vision, and so I am amazed that I should have any vision at all.”] And I hid this too in my heart, and to no one 4 [did I reveal it. And we went to my father Isaac, and he too blessed me in this way. Then,] when Jacob my father was tithing 5 [everything that he had, according to his vow, I was first at the head of] the priesthood, and to me, of all his sons, he gave 6 [an offering to God. He clothed me in the garment of the priesthood and consecrated me, and I became a priest of] the eternal God […]
160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q213b

References

“... It seems likely that the vow refers to Jacob’s promise in Genesis 28:22 “. . . and of all that you give me, I will set aside a tithe for you” ( JPS; and see Jubilees 27:27). Later, the biblical story relates, God sent Jacob to Bethel to build the altar there, which he did (Genesis 35:1–5).47 According to Jubilees 31, Jacob urged his family to go to Bethel to fulfill his vow, building the altar and setting up a pillar “on the first of the seventh month” (Jubilees 31:3). Neither Genesis 35:1–5 nor Jubilees 31 mentions giving the tithe in this con- text. According to Jubilees 31:26, Jacob took his son to visit his par- ents, telling his father all his adventures, among them “the vow that he had made to the Lord, the vision that he had seen, that he had built an altar and everything was ready for offering the sacrifice before the Lord that he had vowed”. Issac refused to come because of his age, but sent Jacob’s mother with them, saying to him, “Be successful and carry out the vow that you made. Do not delay (in carrying out) your vow . . .” (verse 29). The following night Jacob stayed at Bethel, where “Levi dreamed that he—he and his sons— had been appointed and made into the priesthood of the Most High forever”. The next morning, on the 14th day of the seventh month, Jacob “gave a tithe of everything which had come with him—from people to animals, from money to all utensils and clothing. He gave a tithe of everything” (32:2). ...”
Jonas C. Greenfield, Michael E. Stone, and Esther Eshel, eds., The Aramaic Levi Document: Edition, Translation, Commentary, SVTP 19 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 15.

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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Genesis 28:22 and 4Q213b 1 4

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