C — Calendars, Liturgies and Prayers

Phases of the Moon (4Q317)

1Seventy-six fragments of an astronomical text written in a cryptic alphabet record the phases of the moon, divided into 1/14ths of the full size of the moon, over the consecutive days of a 364-day solar calendar. J. T. Milik has reconstructed a fourteen-line section, based on fr. 1 ii, 2—14 and supplemented with other smaller fragments. For the text, see J. T. Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 (Oxford, 1976), 68-9.

2II ... [On the f]ifth (day) of it (the month), [tw]elve (fourteenths of the moon's surface) are covered and thus it [enters the day. On the sixth (day) of it] thir]teen (fourteenths of its surface) are covered and thus it enters the day. On the seventh (day) of it [fourteen (fourteenths of its surface)] are covered and thus] it enters the day. vacat On the eighth (day) of it... the firmament above ... its light is to be covered ... on the first of the Sabbath (Sunday). vacat [On the ninth (day) of it one (fourteenth) portion (of its surface)] is revealed [and thus it enters the night]. On the tenth (day) of it [two (fourteenths of its surface)] are [revealed and it enters] the night. vacat On the ele[venth (day) of it three (fourteenths of its surface) are revealed] and thus it enters the night. vacat