1QS 11

Community Rule
Dead Sea Scrolls

For mankind has no way, and man is unable to establish his steps since justification is with God and perfection of way is out of His hand. All things come to pass by His knowledge; He establishes all things by His design and without Him nothing is done. As for me, if I stumble, the mercies of God shall be my eternal salvation. If I stagger because of the sin of flesh, my justification shall be by the righteousness of God which endures for ever. When my distress is unleashed He will deliver my soul from the Pit and will direct my steps to the way.

Matthew 10:29

New Testament

28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 Even all the hairs on your head are numbered. 31 So do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows. 32 “Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever denies me before people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven.

 Notes and References

"... There is a famous passage in the New Testament where, in the context of a discussion about persecution, Jesus says that not even one sparrow will fall to the ground “without your Father.” It is Matt. 10:29–31 ... Many translators and commentators have racked their brains over the precise sense of the apparently simple expression ἄνευ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν. One finds, for instance, the following translations: “without your Father” (King James Version), “apart from the will of your Father” (New International Version), “without your Father’s knowledge” (New American Bible) ... Commentators, who are equally divided over this issue, frequently refer to a couple of passages in early rabbinic literature where one finds a comparable expression, e.g., “Not even a bird is caught without [the assent/will/aid/knowledge of] heaven, how much less the soul of a son of man” (Genesis Rabbah 79.6). But, apart from the fact that this rabbinic material dates from several centuries after Matthew, this is a relatively isolated case (The same applies to a passage in the Rule of the Community from Qumran, although it is pre-Christian) and, moreover, we still have the same problem of interpretation (It is widely agreed that the background of Matthew’s bird imagery is Amos 3:5 LXX “Will a bird fall on the earth without a fowler?”) ..."

van der Horst, Pieter W. ‘Without God’: Some Notes on a Greek Expression (pp. 230-239) Brill, 2014

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