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4Q246

An Aramaic Apocalypse

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Column 2

1 He will be called the son of God, and they will call him the son of the Most High.⁠ Like the shooting stars 2 of the vision, so will their kingdom be. For years they will reign over 3 the earth and trample everything. People will trample people, and province will trample province,⁠ 4 until the people of God arises and all have rest from the sword. 5 His kingdom is an eternal kingdom,⁠ and all his paths are in truth. He will judge 6 the earth in truth, and all will make peace. The sword will cease from the earth, 7 and all the provinces will bow down to him. The great God is his strength; 8 he himself will wage war for him.⁠ He will give peoples into his hand, and all of them 9 he will cast down before him. His dominion is an eternal dominion, and all the depths of […]

Texts in conversation

Compare Daniel 7:27 and 4Q246 ii 5

Hebrew Bible · Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts

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Summary

In Daniel, the holy ones receive an eternal kingdom after a persecutor’s rule ends. In 4Q246 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the promise is connected to an end to warfare, so that this divine rule also brings peace to all the earth.

Passages

Daniel 7:27

Hebrew Bible
25 He will speak words against the Most High. He will harass the holy ones of the Most High continually. His intention will be to change times established by law. The holy ones will be delivered into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 But the court will convene, and his ruling authority will be removed—destroyed and abolished forever! 27 Then the kingdom, authority, and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be delivered to the people of the holy ones of the Most High. His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; all authorities will serve him and obey him.’
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

4Q246 ii 5

Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts · An Aramaic Apocalypse
4 until the people of God arises and all have rest from the sword. 5 His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and all his paths are in truth. He will judge 6 the earth in truth, and all will make peace. The sword will cease from the earth, 7 and all the provinces will bow down to him. The great God is his strength; 8 he himself will wage war for him. He will give peoples into his hand, and all of them 9 he will cast down before him. His dominion is an eternal dominion, and all the depths of […]
50–20 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q246

References

“... The difficulties of translating the ambiguous passage notwithstanding, we can make some fairly certain observations. Regarding context, a seer in the setting of a royal court tells this description of events leading up to the eschatological period (1.1–2; cf. Dan 2:26–45; 4:19–27; 5:17–31).50 With respect to the cited passage, wording in lines 5 and 9 corresponds exactly with Dan 7:27 and 7:14 respectively. As for the remaining paral- lels, the text overlaps with elements found in the second half of Daniel 7 (vv. 15–27). Here the correspondences pertain mostly to conflict lan- guage. Taken together, this evidence might provide a reasonable case for regarding Daniel 7 as a source of inspiration for 4Q246. To test the via- bility of this possibility, it is first necessary to consider some of the dif- ferences between the texts. ...”
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, “The Formation and Re-Formation of Daniel in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” in The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006), 1:118.

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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Daniel 7:27 and 4Q246 ii 5

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