C — Calendars, Liturgies and Prayers

Apocalyptic Chronology or Apocryphal Weeks (4Q 247)

1A fragment consisting of seven mutilated lines, and palaeographically dated to the last decades of the first century BCE, appears to belong to an apocalyptic account of world history, divided into weeks of years and possibly centred on the Temple of Jerusalem. Despite the lack of continuous narration, the significant details justify the inclusion of this text in the volume. For the editio princeps, see M. Broshi, DJD, XXXVI, 187-91.

2... [de]termined [end] ... [And afterwards will co]me the fif[th] week ... four-hundred [and eighty years (after the exodus from Egypt)] Solo[mon] (built the Temple; cf. 1 Kings vi, 1) ... (It was destroyed in the time) [of Zede]kiah king of Judah ... (It was restored by) the Levites and the people of the Lan[d] ... (Final stage) ... kin[g] of the Kittim ...