Texts in conversation

Compare 4Q521 4:12 and Matthew 11:5

Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts · New Testament

Summary

In 4Q521 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, raising the dead comes just before good news for the poor. Matthew preserves this unusual order in Jesus’ answer to John, using the same cluster of promises to explain Jesus’ activity.

Passages

4Q521 4:12

Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts · A Messianic Apocalypse

8 setting prisoners free, opening the eyes of the blind, raising up those who are bowed down. 9 And forever I will cling to those who hope, and in his kindness … 10 and the fruit of a good [deed] will not be delayed for anyone. 11 And the Lord will do glorious things that have not been, as he [said]. 12 For he will heal the wounded and give life to the dead; he will bring good news to the humble, 13 and the [poor] he will satisfy, the uprooted he will lead, and the hungry he will make rich,

100–50 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q521

Matthew 11:5

New Testament

2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds Christ had done, he sent his disciples to ask a question: 3 “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Go tell John what you hear and see: 5 The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them 6 —and blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me!”

70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

“... The fourth example, well known since initial publication in 1992, illustrates how intertextuality in the New Testament with sacred tradition from the Jewish scriptures can include the reception of that tradition in the Second Temple period. In describing the eschatological activities of the Adonai, 4Q521 2 ii + 464 quotes Psalm 146:7-8 (line 8) and Isaiah 61:1 (line 12). Just before the citation that recognizably comes from Isaiah 61 (“he will bring good news to the afflicted”), the text adds two activities not found in either Psalm 146 or Isaiah 61: “for he will heal the wounded, and he will bring the dead to life”. In the tradition shared by Luke and Matthew (Luke 7:22 par. Matt 11:5), Jesus’ answers John the Baptist’s disciples’ question about his identity by describing his activities based on a series of allusions which include Isaiah 61: “the blind see (Ps 146:8; Isa 29:18, 35:5, 42:18) and the lame walk (cf. Isa 35:6); lepers are cleansed and the dumb hear (Isa 35:6; cf. 29:18, 42:18), and the dead are raised (cf. Isa 26:19) and the poor are having good news brought to them (Isa 61:1)”. This last part of Jesus’ answer, which clearly draws on Isaiah 61:1 in combination with the raising of the dead, follows precisely the order as given in 4Q521 2 ii + 4.12. Though it is possible that the reference to raising the dead in 4Q521 is an allusion to Isaiah 26:19, the occurrence of this motif within a list that draws on Isaiah 61 indicates that we more likely have to do with an adaptation of the latter. Jesus’ answer, then, draws on Isaiah 61 in a form that is only found in 4Q521. This does not mean, though, that one can assert the direct influence of the Dead Sea text (not to mention of Essene ideas – 4Q521 does not make use of any sectarian terminology characteristic of the YaÌad) on Jesus. ...”

Loren T. Stuckenbruck, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament,” in Qumran and the Bible: Studying the Jewish and Christian Scriptures in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. Nóra Dávid and Armin Lange (Leuven: Peeters, 2010), 154.

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

Fragments 2 ii+4

4Q52116 chapters

Compare 4Q521 4:12 and Matthew 11:5

Summary

Passages

4Q521 4:12

Matthew 11:5

References

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