C — Calendars, Liturgies and Prayers

Daily Prayers (4Q 503)

1A manuscript from Cave 4 (4Q503) consisting of 225 papyrus fragments, edited by M. Baillet (DJD, VII, 105-36), lists evening and morning benedictions for each day of the month. The calendar followed appears to be lunar since evening precedes morning. The editor places the writing in the first quarter of the first century BCE.

2III And when the sun rises... the firmament of heaven, they shall bless. Answer[ing they shall say:] Blessed be the Go[d of Israel ... ] Today... in the fourt[h of the gates of light... ] On the fifth [of the month in the eve]ning, they shall bless. Answering, they shall say: Blessed be the God [of Israel] who hides... before him in every division of his glory... today the fourte[enth] ... light of the day. Peace be on you, Israel ... [When the sun] rise[s] to illumine the earth, they shall bless, and again the numbe[r shall be] ele[ven days] to the feasts of joy and the appointed times of g[lory,] for [this d]ay is in the fifteenth of the gate[s of light] ... [Peace be on you,] Israel. On the sixth of the month in the evening, they shall bless. Answering, they shall [say]: Bles[sed be the God] of Israel ... And when [the sun rises to illumine the earth, they shall bless. Answering, they shall say] Frs. 7-9 IV ... Peace [be on you, Israel] ... On the seventh of [the month in the evening, they shall bless. Answering, they shall say:] Blessed be the God of Is[rael] ...

3Fr. 11 [On the t]welfth of the month in the evening [they shall bless] ... (This probably continues up to the 26th of the month.)

4Prayer or Hymn Celebrating the Morning and the Evening (4Q 408) One medium sized and fifteen or sixteen small fragments represent a collection of liturgical prayers of which only one can be partly translated. The document is akin to 4Q375 and 376 as well as to 1Q29. Palaeographically the document is placed in the late second century BCE. For the editio princeps, see Annette Steudel, DJD, XXXVI, 298- 319. Fr. I ... [B1]essed art Thou, O Lord, who art righteous in all Thy ways. Be mighty in strength ... [in Thy judge]ments. Thou who art faithful ... Thou art understanding [with all in]telligence ... might. Thou who art ... to bring out ... who hast created the morning as a sign to reveal the dominion of the light as the boundary of the daytime ... for their work. To bless Thy holy name Thou hast created them. For the light is good ... [Thou art ... ] who hast created the evening as a sign to reveal the dominion [of darkness] ... from labour. Thou hast [c]reated them to bless Thy holy name] when they see that the light is good and when ... Thou hast created the evening as a sign (to mark) the appearance of the dominion of [darkness] ...