Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

Fragment 2 Column 1 (1) and on the thirteenth and the [fo]urteenth Cancer. On the fi[ft]eenth and the
sixteenth L[e]o. On the seventeenth [and] the eighteenth (2) Vi[r]go. On the [ni]nteenth, the twentieth
and the twenty-first Libra. On the twenty-[second and the twenty-third Scorpio. On the twenty-fourth
(3) and the twenty-fifth Sagitt[arius]. On the twenty six[th], the twenty-seve[nth] and the twentyeig[hth
Capricorn. On the twenty-n[inth] (4) and the thirtieth Aquari[us]. Shevat On the first and the
second [Pisc]es. On [the third and the] fourth (5) [Aries. On] the fifth, [the sixth and the seventh
Taurus. On the eig[hth and ninth Gemini.] On the tenth (6) [and eleventh] Cancer. On the twelfth,
thirteenth and fourteenth Leo. [On the fifteenth and sixteenth [Virgo]. (7) On the seventeenth and
eighteenth Libra. On the nineteenth, [twentieth and twenty-first Scorpio. On the twenty-second (8)
[and] twenty-third [Sagitta]rius. On the twentyfourth and twenty-fifth Capricorn. On [the twentysixth],
twenty-seventh and twenty-e[i]ghth, (9) Aquarius. On the twenty-ninth and thirtieth Pisces.
Fragment 2 Column 2 (1) Adar On the first and the second Aries. On the third and the fourth Taurus.
On the fif[th, sixth and seventh Gemini]. (2) On the eighth (and) ninth Canc[er. On the tenth and
eleventh L]eo. On the twelfth, thir[teenth and fourteenth] (3) Vi[r]go. On the fifteenth and six[teenth
Libra. On the seventeenth (and) eight[eenth Scorpio]. (4) On the [nin]eteenth, twentieth and twentyfirst
Sagitt[arius. On the twenty-second] and twenty-thi[rd Capricorn. On the twenty-[fourth and
twenty-fifth] (5) Aquarius. On the twenty-sixth, twenty-[seventh and twenty-eighth Pis[ces]. On the
twenty-ni[nth, thirtieth and thirty-first] (6) Aries. [If] it thunders [on a day when the moon is in
Taurus], (it signifies) [vain] changes in the wo[rld (?) . . .] (7) [and] suffering for the cities, and
destru[ction in] the royal [co]urt and in the city of dest[ruction (?) . . .] (8) there will be, and among
the Arabs . . . famine. Nations will plunder one ano[ther . . .] (9) If it thunders on a day when the
moon is in Gemini, (it signifies) fear and distress caused by foreigners and by [. . .]
46. A Physiognomic Text (4Q561)
This text belongs to a widespread type of divination especially well known from Graeco-Roman
examples. Writers infer a person's character from movements, gestures of the body, colour, facial
expressions, the growth of the hair, the smoothness of the skin, the voice, idiosyncrasies of the flesh,
the parts of the body, and the body as a whole. Ancient medicine in particular valued physiognomic
signs. Physiognomy was more important in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance than it was in
antiquity, and has not yet fully died out. The Qumran text is unfortunately so fragmentary that it is
impossible to specify how many individuals it describes or whether its evaluations are ultimately
positive or negative. Enough remains, however, to get some feel for the text's concerns. It is
apparently related to another, previously published, Hebrew work from Qumran, 4Q 186.