C — Calendars, Liturgies and Prayers

Prayers for Festivals (4Q 507-9)

1Three badly worn manuscripts from Cave 4 (4Q507-9) partly correspond to the foregoing fragments from Cave 1 (1Q34 and 34 bis). They have preserved prayers for festivals, two of which are explicitly associated with the Day of Atonement and the Day of Firstfruits. The editor, M. Baillet (DJD, VII, 175-215), dates them to the beginning of the first century CE. 4Q507, fr. 1 We are (encompassed) by iniquity since the womb, and since the breast by guilt. While we live, we walk in iniquity... 4Q508, fr. 1 (cf. 1Q34 bis) [And the righteous... to grow fat thanks to the clouds of heaven and the produce of the land, to distingui]sh the righteous from the wicked. And Thou shalt make of the wicked our expiation, and by the upright Thou shalt destroy all our oppressors. And we will praise Thy na[m]e for ever and ever. For [Thou hast created us for this] and we answer Thee with this: Blessed be ... Fr. 2 (cf. 1Q34 bis)

2... Prayer for the Day of Atonement. Remember O Lord, the feast of mercies and the time of return (?)... Thou hast established it for us as a feast of fasting, and an everlas[ting] precept ... Thou knowest the hidden things and the things reveal[ed] ... Fr. 3 ... Thou didst establish [Thy Covenant] with Noah ... 4Q509, fr. 3 (cf. 1Q34 bis) For Thou hast caused us to rejoice, removing our grief, and hast assembled our banished ones for a feast of... Thou shalt gather our dispersed women for the season of ... Thy [me]rcies on our congregation like ra[in-drops on the earth in the season of sowing... and like showers on the gr]ass in the seasons of sprouting and... We shall recount Thy marvels from generation to generation. Blessed be the Lord who has caused us to rejoice... Fr. 132 II [Prayer for the Day of] Firstfruits. Remember, O Lord, the feast of ... and the pleasing free-will offerings which Thou hast commanded... [to br]ing before Thee the firstfruits of [Thy] works ...