Torleif Elgvin - Böcker

This volume contains a collection of compositions from cave 4 at Qumran. These compositons, written during the Second Temple period, are linked to the Hebrew Bible through text, characters, themes, or genre. Some of them present a reworking, rewriting, or paraphrase of biblical books. Of these texts, Reworked Pentateuch is probably closest to the biblcial books, while Jubilees is somewhat more removed from the text of the Hebrew Bible. Furthest removed from the biblical text in this volume are A Prayer for Enosh and ParaKings. Among the texts here published, Jubilees was known previously from Greek and Ethiopic translations, while Prayer for Enosh, Reworked Pentateuch, ParaKings, and the Commentary on Genesis-Exodus are hitherto unknown, All these documents greatly enhance our understanding of biblical interpretation during the Second Temple Period and of the phenomenon of pseudepigraphy (writing in the name of a famous biblical or religious character) so prevalent in antiquity.

This volume contains a collection of compositions from Cave 4 at Qumran, written during the Second Temple period and linked to biblical texts through characters, themes, or genre. Some of these, such as the Levi Aramaic Document, Testament of Naphtali, and Prayer of Nabonidus, were known previously from Greek and Aramaic manuscripts of the Apocrypha. The additional documents include PseudoDaniel, the Commentaries on Genesis, Commentary on Malachi, Apocryphon of Joshua, The Two Ways, Apocryphon of Elisha, Prayer of Mercy, and a number of small miscellaneous texts. All these documents greatly enhance our understanding of the phenomenon of psuedepigraphy (written in the name of a famous biblical or religious character) and of biblical interpretation during the Second Temple period.

This volume contains a collection of previously unknown compositions from Cave 4 at Qumran. These compositions, written during the Second Temple period, use specialized terminology that allows them to be classified as sapiential (or instructional) literature. As such, they are part of the larger genre of wisdom literature, common in the ancient Near East, which includes other collections of sayings and instruction such as the Book of Proverbs, Ben Sira, and the Epistle of James. The documents published here include Mysteries (a manuscript of which was also found in Cave 1), several Meditations on Creation, an Admonitory Parable, Work Concerning Divine Providence, Ways of Righteousness, a number of small sapiential texts, and one text written in the script known as Cryptic A Words of a Sage to All Sons of Dawn. These compositions enhance our understanding of the keen interest in theological and ethical issues (such as God's omnipotence, justice, creative power and design, and man's moral and ethical responsibility to his Creator and fellow men), both of the Qumran community specifically and of Second Temple period Judaism in general.

This volume contains six or seven manuscripts of a previously unknown sapiential composition from the Second Temple period (4Q415 ff.), originally dubbed 'Sapiential Work A' and now known as '4QInstruction'. The numerous copies of this manuscript attest to its importance for the Community at Qumran. The specialized terminology used in this work probably allows it to be classified as sectarian, that is, as having been composed by and reflecting the particular interests of the community at Qumran. Also included in the volume is a re-edition of 1QInstruction (1Q26) originally published by J. T. Milik in DJD I. DJD XXXIV is the second and final volume in the series of sapiential texts from Cave 4.

PUBLICATION RETRACTED:In June 2025 the Publishers were made aware that many of the fragments discussed in this book have been discovered, since publication, to be of dubious authenticity.The Publisher hereby notifies readers that this title, originally published in July 2016 is retracted.Please use the online resources section of this page to access the retracted pdf file of the book, which contains notes on the retraction from the Publisher and the volume's chief editor. This file is available to readers free of charge.The book's original description follows below: This special edition large format LSTS volume presents, over half of them for the first time, ten biblical and five non-biblical fragments from the Judean Desert. The text features 42 photographs of the fragments. The publication of seven new fragments from the Judean Desert will supplement the Discoveries in the Judean Desert series and bring new material to scholars regarding the full textual situation. Two of the new biblical fragments suggest the preservation of substantial textual variants. The new Aramaic fragment reveals the use of interesting linguistic forms. The book includes a 10 page essay by Martin Schoyen about how he has tracked down and acquired Judean Desert fragments and artifacts since 1994. The collection of images, photographs of the fragments, and scholarly commentary from some of the leading experts in the field gives the reader a comprehensive picture of the artifacts from Qumran. The fragments included are: 4QLeviticus, 4QSamuel, 4QDeuteronomy, and 4Q Twelve prophets; New (additional) fragments of 4QPsalms and 4QExodus; improved version of Judges frg 3, 4QJoshuac, 1QDanielb, and 4QJoshua; Apochryphal fragments - 4QTobit and 1QapocrGenesis; and, Other fragments - 1QSb (Rule of Blessings, reedition), 11QTemple, and 4QAramaic frg.