Skip to Content
intertextual.bible
Go to Related Reading
About this book

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 4:30 and 4Q398 14–17 i 6

Hebrew Bible · Dead Sea Scrolls, Torah and Temple Practices

Share:

Summary

In Deuteronomy 4, Israel returns to God in the last days after suffering. In 4Q398 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the phrase about the last days is added to Deuteronomy 30, specifying when its promise of return will be fulfilled.

Passages

Deuteronomy 4:30

Hebrew Bible
29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. 30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in future days, if you return to the Lord your God and obey him 31 (for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.
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

“... Following a call to the addressee(s) to "study (carefully) the book of Moses and the books of the Prophets and (the writings of) David [and the events of] ages past" (C 10-12), our section begins (C 13-16) with a paraphrastic and reduced citation of Deut. 30:1-3, "When all these things befall you-the blessing and the curse...- and you take them to heart... and you return to the LORD your God . .. with all your heart and soul," inserting the temporal qualification, "at the end of days," from Deut. 4:30.'Both Deut. 30:1-3 and 4:30 stress prophetically that after Israel has suffered the covenantal conse- quences of their evil deeds, they will wholeheartedly return to God and his commandments, as now stressed, "at the end of days." ...”
Steven D. Fraade, “Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Miqsat Ma?ase Ha-Torah (4QMMT): The Case of the Blessings and Curses,” DSD 10.1 (2003): 151–152.

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

Your feedback

Deuteronomy 4:30 and 4Q398 14–17 i 6

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library