Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

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Fragment 6 (2) . . . be reddish . . . (3) [cl]ear and will [be] round . . . (4) the hair of his head . . . 47. An Amulet Formula Against Evil Spirits (4Q560) The discovery of this text among the Dead Sea Scrolls is significant not least because it is the earliest known Jewish example, antedating its closest rivals for that honour by several centuries. It is not clear whether this text was part of a larger scroll used as a kind of 'recipe book' by a scribe or magician, or whether it was wrapped up and placed in a case. The reader will also note the several uncertainties in the Translation. In part the difficulties arise from the genre of these texts - they intentionally use strange or unusual vocabulary. Many such texts use previously unknown words. The other major difficulty of this text is its broken condition; if we had more context we could gain an improved understanding of several points. This kind of conjuring or incantation is known in apocryphal literature like the Book of Tobit (Chapters 6, 8, and 11) and the Book of Enoch (Chapter 7), both of which are extant in fragments at Qumran. The Mishnah (San. 7:7), like the Old Testament, specifically condemns it. We have already seen how Josephus considered the magicians, imposters and religious frauds (among whom he would clearly include some of the 'prophets and teachers' pictured in Acts) more dangerous even than the revolutionaries. Apparently, in his time, this kind of knowledge and activity was ascribed, like so much bearing on the provenance of Secret Wisdom, to Solomon, and he actually gives us a picture of such a person (Ant. 8.45-9). He describes how a 'countryman' of his named Eleazar in 'the presence of Vespasian and his sons' cured men possessed of demons by putting a ring having under its seal roots prescribed by Solomon under their noses 'and reciting that he (Solomon) had composed it'. To prove to Vespasian, who according to Suetonius was very susceptible to these kinds of superstitions, that he had this power, he instructed the demon to turn over a basin of water which he had left a little way off for this purpose when it departed. It did. It was a group of people like this around Vespasian, including Josephus and interestingly enough Philo's nephew, Tiberius Alexander, who seem to have convinced Vespasian by 'signs and wonders' of this kind - particularly curing the lame and making the blind see - that he was the real 'Star' called from Palestine to rule the world. For Acts 4:6 Tiberius Alexander appears as a persecutor of so-called 'Christians'. Josephus describes him as a turncoat and an apostate from Judaism (War 2.220), and Vespasian left him behind to help his somewhat impetuous son Titus as general in charge of the siege that ended in the destruction of the Temple. Exorcisms and conjuring of this kind were also very popular activities in the Gospels and the Book of Acts.
Translation Fragment 1 Column 1 (1) . . . heart . . . (2) a new mother, the punishment of those giving birth, a command (of) evil . . . (3) the male poisoning demon and the female poisoning-demon (is forbidden) [to] enter the body . . . (4) [(I adjure you) by the Name of He who for]gives sins and transgression, O fever and chills and heartburn (5) [. . .and forbidden to disturb by night in dreams or by day] in sleep, the male PRK-demon and the female PRK-demon, those who breach (?) . . . Fragment 1 Column 2 (2) . . . before h[im . . .] (4) before him and . . . (5) and I adjure you, O spirit . . . (6) 1 adjure you, O spirit ... (7) upon the earth, in the clouds . . . 48. The Era Of Light Is Coming (4Q462) This narrative evidently takes as its starting point the prophecy given by Noah in Gen. 9:25-27: 'Cursed be Canaan; he shall be his brothers' meanest slave . . . Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem . . . May God make space for Japheth, and let him live in the tents of Shem.' Shem, of course, was understood as the ancestor of the Jews, while his brothers were regarded as the ancestors of neighbouring peoples. Noah's words, which were read as prophecy, probably relate to the Davidic period. They predict the ultimate supremacy of the Jews over their neighbours, an inspiring thought in any time of oppression. The text could have been placed in Chapter 2 under Prophets and Pseudo-Prophets, but because of its unclear attribution, we place it here. It should be read as a kind of 'Holy History'. Beginning with prophecy, it moves on to judgement, a judgement centred, it seems, on Jerusalem. Lines 6-8, 'The Lord is the Ruler . . . to Him alone belongs the sovereignty', are noteworthy in the light of similar slogans attributed by Josephus to 'Zealot' revolutionaries who proliferated before and during the period of the uprising against Rome (AD 6670).
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Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered by Rober
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● ● Index (Removed) Plates Pict
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The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered The
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Introduction Why should anyone be i
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consignments, then more insistently
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Texts and fragments are translated
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entire corpus of pictures completel
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'Perfection of the Way' and 'zeal f
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as Judgement' throughout, so that t
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Chapter 1 - Messianic and Visionary
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He is to a certain extent a superna
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1991. Since then much discussion ha
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Chapter 3 below. Not only is it use
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[the sl]ai[n of the] Kitti[m] . . .
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Translation Fragment 1 (1) ... the
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Covenant' incumbent on all 'the Rig
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a book of the utmost importance for
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presumably an Angel - possibly even
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Translation Column 2 (9)...sixteen
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Righteous), etc. These themes shoul
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Translation Fragment 1 (1) ... to t
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Chapter 2 - Prophets and Pseudo-Pro
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this document, are also the backbon
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person, where it would appear to be
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Fragment 3 (1)...(2)... the Lord, a
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Translation Fragment 1 (1) and my p
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kingdoms (see also the Vision of th
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Translation (1)... Daniel befo[re..
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God, War Scroll, etc.., whether tak
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Translation Fragment 1 Column 1 (5)
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araméens de Qumran 4', Revue Bibli
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another example of rewriting and de
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analysis of the scheme of this cale
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as yet been revealed. The Damascus
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Put another way, one has irrefutabl
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Column 1 (1) in the 480th [year] of
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this are important, as is the provo
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Translation Column 1 (Fragments 1 a
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18. Enochic Book Of Giants (4Q532)
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Translation Fragment 1 (1) . . . al
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son, on the day of the festival of
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Translation Column 2 (or later) (1)
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(references are to primeval dates,
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Chapter 4 - Calendrical Texts and P
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(9) Jeshua, (10) Shecaniah, (11) El
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secon[d] (year): The first lunar mo
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[Remembrance]. In H[uppah is the Da
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the thirtieth = the seventh of the
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confirms 'were dominated in all thi
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Fragment 2 (1) [. . . the four]th [
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[On the sixteenth is the Sabbath of
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determined the name according to th
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third, the sign of Shecaniah;] (2)
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Previous Discussions: J. T. Milik,
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In 2 Chr. 16:4 Abel Mayin is design
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Fragment 1 Column 2 (8) [Your] a[ye
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The use of the word 'swallow' in Co
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you will rejoice [in your God. Now]
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upper-class establishment and the m
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30. Testament Of Amram (4Q543, 545-
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Translation Manuscript C Column 1 (
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The surviving portions of the Qumra
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Translation Column 2 (or later) (1)
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particular, is important, when it c
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Translation Column 1 (1) [The word]
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Translation Fragment 1 (2) . . . wi
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the word 'Satan' and further adumbr
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Translation Column 1 (1) [Now, hear
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Angel around . . . (5) a Wat[cher]
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Chapter 6 - Works Reckoned as Right
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of the Second Letter looks very lik
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tangible throughout the document. H
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issue of gifts from Gentiles. Also,
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a sabbath; (100) on the tenth (101)
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36. The Second Letter On Works Reck
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Translation (2) . . . because they
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the Way in the wilderness'. The ref
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Page 187 and 188: 39. Laws Of The Red Heifer (Purity
Page 189 and 190: un]clean until the eve[n]ing. The m
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Page 211 and 212: Translation Fragment 1 (1) . . . Un
Page 213 and 214: 'obscure Mysteries' - even 'the Mys
Page 219 and 220: Translation The Eternal Planting Fr
Page 221 and 222: destroyed, and the sons of Wickedne
Page 223 and 224: e covered, but by your arbitration
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Page 227 and 228: was slowly moving in relation to th
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Page 239 and 240: Way], and also to mix the . . . (7)
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Page 245 and 246: Previous Discussion: J. Starcky, 'L
Page 247 and 248: Text 33 Text 34 Text35a Text 33: Th
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