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4Q398

4QMMT/The Halakhic Letter

About this book

Fragments 14-17 i

1 [in our hand unfaithfulness or falsehood or evil, for to all these we] give 2 [… we have written] them [so that you may understand the] book of Moses 3 [and the books of the prophets and David and the deeds of generation after] generation. [And in the] book it is written 4 [… not for] you, and the former things … 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” …]

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 30:1 and 4Q398 14–17 i 6

Hebrew Bible · Dead Sea Scrolls, Torah and Temple Practices

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Summary

In Deuteronomy 30, Israel returns to God after experiencing blessings and curses. In 4Q398 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the quotation adds the last days, turning that promise into a claim about the community’s own time.

Passages

Deuteronomy 30:1

Hebrew Bible
1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 2 Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today, 3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

4Q398 14–17 i 6

Dead Sea Scrolls, Torah and Temple Practices · 4QMMT/The Halakhic Letter
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” …]
150–100 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q398

References

“... This text is a paraphrase, repeating the contents of Deut 30:2. As I have already written above, whereas the biblical text does not mention any specific time for the repentance referred to in the Torah, in these two passages of Miqßat Ma’aseh haTorah (4Q397; 4Q398) there appears an exegetical addition of this sort, in which the things are made actual by interpreting what is said about the End of Days as referring to the present time of the sect. In 4Q398 14-17 i 5-8 there is again a reworking of Deut 30:1, where it states that the blessing and curse will take place at the End of Days. ...”
Gershon Brin, The Concept of Time in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, STDJ 39 (Leiden: Brill, 2001), 336.

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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Deuteronomy 30:1 and 4Q398 14–17 i 6

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