The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (42 page)

Hymn 14
(formerly
9
)

I thank Thee (corrected: Blessed art Thou) O Lord,
for Thou hast not abandoned the fatherless
or despised the poor.
For Thy might [is boundless]
and Thy glory beyond measure
and wonderful Heroes minister to Thee;
yet [hast Thou done marvels] among the humble
in the mire underfoot,
and among those eager for righteousness,
causing all the well-loved poor
to rise up together from the trampling.

 

But I have been [iniquity to] those who contend with me,
dispute and quarrelling to my friends,
wrath to the members of my Covenant
and murmuring and protest to all my companions.

 

[All who have ea]ten my bread
have lifted their heel against me,
and all those joined to my Council
have mocked me with wicked lips.
The members of my [Covenant] have rebelled
and have murmured round about me;
they have gone as talebearers

 

before the children of mischief
concerning the mystery which Thou hast hidden in me.
And to show Thy great[ness] through me,
and because of their guilt,
Thou hast hidden the fountain of understanding
and the counsel of truth.

 

They consider but the mischief of their heart;
[with] devilish [schemings] they unsheathe
a perfidious tongue
from which ever springs the poison of dragons.
And like (serpents) which creep in the dust,
so do they let fly [their poisonous darts],
viper's [venom] against which there is no charm;
and this has brought incurable pain,
a malignant scourge
within the body of Thy servant,
causing [his spirit] to faint
and draining his strength
so that he maintains no firm stand.

 

They have overtaken me in a narrow pass without escape
and there is no [rest for me in my trial].
They sound my censure upon a harp
and their murmuring and storming upon a zither.
Anguish [seizes me]
like the pangs of a woman in travail,
and my heart is troubled within me.
I am clothed in blackness

 

and my tongue cleaves to the roof [of my mouth];
[for I fear the mischief of] their heart
and their inclination (towards evil)
appears as bitterness before me.
The light of my face is dimmed to darkness
and my radiance is turned to decay.

 

For Thou, O God, didst widen my heart,
but they straiten it with affliction
and hedge me about with darkness.
I eat the bread of wailing

 

and drink unceasing tears;
truly, my eyes are dimmed by grief,
and my soul by daily bitterness.
[Groaning] and sorrow encompass me
and ignominy covers my face.
My bread is turned into an adversary
and my drink into an accuser;
it has entered into my bones
causing my spirit to stagger
and my strength to fail.
According to the mysteries of sin,
they change the works of God by their transgression.

 

Truly, I am bound with untearable ropes
and with unbreakable chains.
A thick wall [fences me in],
iron bars and gates [of bronze];
my [prison] is counted with the Abyss
as being without [any escape]

 

[The torrents of Belial] have encompassed my soul
[leaving me without deliverance]

Hymn 14
(formerly
10
)

XIV
(formerly
VI
)
Thou hast unstopped my ears
[to the correction] of those who reprove with justice
[Thou hast saved me] from the congregation of [vanity]
and from the assembly of violence;
Thou hast brought me into the Council of...
[and hast purified me of] sin.
And I know there is hope
for those who turn from transgression
and for those who abandon sin
and to walk without wickedness
in the way of Thy heart.
I am consoled for the roaring of the peoples,
and for the tumult of k[ing]doms when they assemble;
[for] in a little while, I know,
Thou wilt raise up survivors among Thy people
and a remnant within Thine inheritance.
Thou wilt purify and cleanse them of their sin
for all their deeds are in Thy truth.
Thou wilt judge them in Thy great loving-kindness
and in the multitude of Thy mercies
and in the abundance of Thy pardon,
teaching them according to Thy word;
and Thou wilt establish them in Thy Council
according to the uprightness of Thy truth.

 

Thou wilt do these things for Thy glory
and for Thine own sake,
to [magnify] the Law and [the truth
and to enlighten] the members of Thy Council
in the midst of the sons of men,
that they may recount Thy marvels
for everlasting generations
and [meditate] unceasingly upon Thy mighty deeds.
All the nations shall acknowledge Thy truth,
and all the people Thy glory.

 

For Thou wilt bring Thy glorious [salvation]
to all the men of Thy Council,
to those who share a common lot
with the Angels of the Face.
And among them shall be no mediator to [invoke Thee],
and no messenger [to make] reply;
for ...
They shall reply according to Thy glorious word
and shall be Thy princes in the company [of the Angels].

They shall send out a bud [for ever]
like a flower [of the fields],
and shall cause a shoot to grow
into the boughs of an everlasting Plant.

 

It shall cover the whole [earth] with its shadow
[and its crown] (shall reach) to the [clouds];
its roots (shall go down) to the Abyss
[and all the rivers of Eden shall water its branches].

 

A source of light
shall become an eternal ever-flowing fountain,
and in its bright flames
all the [sons of iniquity] shall be consumed;
[it shall be] a fire to devour all sinful men
in utter destruction.

 

They who bore the yoke of my testimony
have been led astray [by teachers of lies],
[and have rebelled] against the service of righteousness.
Whereas Thou, O my God, didst command them
to mend their ways
[by walking] in the way of [holiness],
where no man goes who is uncircumcised
or unclean or violent,
they have staggered aside from the way of Thy heart
and languish in [great] wretchedness.
A counsel of Belial is in their heart
[and in accordance with] their wicked design
they wallow in sin.

 

[I am] as a sailor in a ship
amid furious seas;
their waves and all their billows
roar against me.
[There is no] calm in the whirlwind
that I may restore my soul,
no path that I may straighten my way
on the face of the waters.
The deeps resound to my groaning
and [my soul has journeyed] to the gates of death.

 

But I shall be as one who enters a fortified city,
as one who seeks refuge behind a high wall
until deliverance (comes);

 

I will [lean on] Thy truth, O my God.
For Thou wilt set the foundation on rock
and the framework by the measuring-cord of justice;
and the tried stones [Thou wilt lay]
by the plumb-line [of truth],
to [build] a mighty [wall] which shall not sway;
and no man entering there shall stagger.

 

For no enemy shall ever invade [it
since its doors shall be] doors of protection
through which no man shall pass;
and its bars shall be firm
and no man shall break them.
No rabble shall enter in with their weapons of war
until all the [arrows] of the war of wickedness
have come to an end.

 

And then at the time of Judgement
the Sword of God shall hasten,
and all the sons of His truth shall awake
to [overthrow] wickedness;
all the sons of iniquity shall be no more.
The Hero shall bend his bow;
the fortress shall open on to endless space
and the everlasting gates shall send out weapons of war.
They shall be mighty
from end to end [of the earth
and there shall be no escape]
for the guilty of heart [in their battle];
they shall be utterly trampled down
without any [remnant.
There shall be no] hope
in the greatness [of their might],
no refuge for the mighty warriors;
for [the battle shall be] to the Most High God
Hoist a banner,
O you who lie in the dust!
O bodies gnawed by worms,
raise up an ensign for [the destruction of wickedness]!

 

[The sinful shall] be destroyed
in the battles against the ungodly.
The scourging flood when it advances
shall not invade the stronghold
XV
(formerly
VII
)
As for me, I am dumb ...
[my arm] is torn from its shoulder
and my foot has sunk into the mire.
My eyes are closed by the spectacle of evil,
and my ears by the crying of blood.
My heart is dismayed by the mischievous design,
for Belial is manifest in their (evil) inclination.
All the foundations of my edifice totter
and my bones are pulled out of joint;
my bowels heave like a ship in a violent tempest
and my heart is utterly distressed.
A whirlwind engulfs me
because of the mischief of their sin.

Hymn 15
(formerly
11
)

I thank Thee, O Lord,
for Thou hast upheld me by Thy strength.
Thou hast shed Thy Holy Spirit upon me
that I may not stumble.

 

Thou hast strengthened me
before the battles of wickedness,
and during all their disasters
Thou hast not permitted that fear
should cause me to desert Thy Covenant.
Thou hast made me like a strong tower, a high wall,
and hast established my edifice upon rock;
eternal foundations
serve for my ground,
and all my ramparts are a tried wall
which shall not sway.

 

Thou hast placed me, O my God,
among the branches of the Council of Holiness;
Thou hast [established my mouth] in Thy Covenant,
and my tongue is like that of Thy disciples;
whereas the spirit of disaster is without a mouth
and all the sons of iniquity without a reply;
for the lying lips shall be dumb.
For Thou wilt condemn in Judgement
all those who assail me,
distinguishing through me
between the just and the wicked.
For Thou knowest the whole intent of a creature,
Thou discernest every reply,
and Thou hast established my heart
[on] Thy teaching and truth,
directing my steps into the paths of righteousness
that I may walk before Thee
in the land [of the living],
into paths of glory and [infinite] peace
which shall [never] end.
For Thou knowest the inclination of Thy servant,
that I have not relied [upon the works of my hands]
to raise up [my heart],
nor have I sought refuge
in my own strength.
I have no fleshly refuge,
[and Thy servant has] no righteous deeds
to deliver him from the [Pit of no] forgiveness.
But I lean on the [abundance of Thy mercies]
and hope [for the greatness] of Thy grace,
that Thou wilt bring [salvation] to flower
and the branch to growth,
providing refuge in (Thy) strength
[and raising up my heart].

 

[For in] Thy righteousness
Thou hast appointed me for Thy Covenant,
and I have clung to Thy truth
and [gone forward in Thy ways].

 

Thou hast made me a father to the sons of grace,
and as a foster-father to men of marvel;
they have opened their mouths like little babes ...
like a child playing in the lap of its nurse.
Thou hast lifted my horn above those who insult me,
and those who attack me
[sway like the boughs] (of a tree);
my enemies are like chaff before the wind,
and my dominion is over the sons [of iniquity,
For] Thou hast succoured my soul, O my God,
and hast lifted my horn on high.
And I shall shine in a seven-fold light
in [the Council appointed by] Thee for Thy glory;
for Thou art an everlasting heavenly light to me
and wilt establish my feet
[upon level ground for ever].

Hymn 16
(formerly
12
)

I [thank Thee, O Lord],
for Thou hast enlightened me through Thy truth.
In Thy marvellous mysteries,
and in Thy loving-kindness to a man [of vanity,
and] in the greatness of Thy mercy to a perverse heart
Thou hast granted me knowledge.

 

Who is like Thee among the gods, O Lord,
and who is according to Thy truth?
Who, when he is judged,
shall be righteous before Thee?
For no spirit can reply to Thy rebuke
nor can any withstand Thy wrath.

 

Yet Thou bringest all the sons of Thy truth
in forgiveness before Thee,
[to cleanse] them of their faults
through Thy great goodness,
and to establish them before Thee
through the multitude of Thy mercies
for ever and ever.

 

For Thou art an eternal God;
all Thy ways are determined for ever [and ever]
and there is none other beside Thee.
And what is a man of Naught and Vanity
that he should understand Thy marvellous mighty deeds?

Hymn 17
(formerly
13
)

[I thank] Thee, O God,
for Thou hast not cast my lot
in the congregation of Vanity,
nor hast Thou placed {my decree} (4Q428 7)
in the council of the cunning.
[Thou hast] called me to Thy grace
and to [Thy] forgiveness Thou hast brought me,
and, by the multitude of Thy mercies,
to all judgements of [righteousness.
As for me, I am an] uncl[ean ma]n,
and from the womb of her who conceived me
I am an unclean man,
and from the womb of her who has conceived me
I am in sinful guilt,
[and from the breast of my mother] in injustice,
and in the bosom [of my nurse] in great impurity.
And from my youth (I am) in blo[od,
and until [my old age in the iniquity of the flesh.
But Thou,] O my God,
Thou hast established my feet in the way of Thy heart,
and hast opened] my ears to [Thy wonderful] tidings,
and my heart to understand Thy truth
XVI
(formerly
VIII
)
for I have closed my ears to Thy teaching
until...
... [without] knowledge
hast Thou cut out of me,
and glor[y] ...
[no] more for me a stumbling-block of iniquity.
For Thou dost rev[eal Thy salvation],
and Thy righteousness is made firm for ever.
For m[an] is not the master of his way,
f[or] Thou hast done [all this for Thy glory.]