E — Wisdom Literature

A Sapiential Work (i) (4Q413)

1Two fragments have preserved the first four lines of a column from a Wisdom composition. The script is Herodian, dating to the turn of the era. The word 'God' is written with palaeo-Hebrew letters in lines 2 and 4. For the editio princeps, see E. Qimron, DJD, XX, i69-71. ... I will teach you [knowledge(?)] and wisdom, And understand the ways of man and the works of the sons of ma[n]. [According to] God's [loving-kindness] towards man, He has enlarged his inheritance in the knowledge of His truth, and according to His rejection of every ev[il man,] no-one who [walks after] his ears and his eyes shall live. And now [His] loving-kindness ... the ancient, they will consider the years of all the generations as God has revealed ...