Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive
Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive
Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive
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Translation<br />
Fragment 1 (2) [and] break[ing . . .] again (?) . . . the sons of Aaron . . . seventy years ...(3) and the<br />
sons of Aaron shall rule them, but they shall not walk in My Wa[ys,] which I comm[an]d you and<br />
which (4) you shall warn them about. <strong>The</strong>y also (i.e., sons of Aaron) shall do what is Evil in my eyes,<br />
exactly as Israel did (5) in the early days of its Kingdom-apart from those who will come up first from<br />
the land where they have been captive, to build (6) the Temple. And I will speak to them and send<br />
them Commandments, and they will understand to what extent (7) they have wandered astray, they and<br />
their forefathers. But from the end of that generation, corresponding to the Seventh jubilee (8) since<br />
the desolation of the land, they will forget Law and festival, Sabbath and Covenant. <strong>The</strong>y will break<br />
(i.e., violate) everything, and do (9) what is evil in My eyes. Thus I shall turn My face away from<br />
them, and give them into the hands of their enemies, delivering [them] (10) to the sword. Yet I will<br />
spare a remnant, so th[at] in My anger and My turning away from them, they will not be des[royed].<br />
(11) And the Angels of Mas[t]emoth will rule over them and ... they will turn aside and (12) do . ..<br />
what I consider Evil, walking in the stub[borness of their hearts ...]<br />
Fragment 2 Column 1, (2) [My] house [and My altar and] the Hol[y] Temple ... (3) thus it will be done<br />
...[flor these things shall come upon them ... and (4) the rule of Belial will [be] upon them, and they<br />
will be delivered to the sword for a week of year[s... From the] beginning of that jubilee they will (5)<br />
break all My Laws and all my Commandments that I commanded th[em, though I send them] my<br />
servants the Prophets. (6) And they wi[I1 be]gin to quarrel with one another. Seventy years from the<br />
day when they broke the [Law and the] Covenant, I will give them (7)[into the power of the An]gels of<br />
Mastemoth, who will rule them, and they (i.e., the people) will neither know nor understand that I am<br />
angry at them because of their rebellion, (8)[because they aban]doned Me and did what was evil in My<br />
eyes, and because they chose what displeases Me, overpowering others for the sake of Riches and<br />
profiteering (9) . . . <strong>The</strong>y will rob their neigh[b]ors and oppress one another and defile My Temple (10)<br />
... and] My festivals . . . through [their] children they will pollu[te] their seed. <strong>The</strong>ir priests will<br />
commit violence . . .<br />
Fragment 2 Column 2 (4) from it ...(5) and with a word ...(6) we ... (7) they will know, and I will send<br />
... (8) and with compassion to as[k...] (9) in the midst of the land [and] on ...(10) their possession and<br />
they will sacrifice in it ... (11) they will pollute it and the alta[r...]<br />
9. Pseudo-Jeremiah (4Q385)<br />
This text, attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, contains many interesting characteristics. In the first<br />
place, one should note the seemingly interchangeable references to the Lord and God. <strong>The</strong> emphasis on<br />
'keeping the Covenant' encountered above is continued - in this case even in captivity. <strong>The</strong> style shifts<br />
in the second and third fragments if in fact all the fragments are part of the same document - to the first