dssdead-sea-scrolls
G — Biblically Based Apocryphal Works
Chapter 21
Premium narration
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Usually designated by the misnomer 'Psalms of Joshua', this badly mutilated composition represents a rewritten account of the story of Joshua. 4Q378, written in Herodian formal script, consists of twenty- seven mostly tiny fragments, while the late Hasmonaean 4Q379 comprises forty-one. The majority of the fragments are too small for meaningful translation. According to Carol Newsom, the overall form of the composition is a farewell speech by Joshua. It contains admonitions, curses and prayers, songs. The biblical text used recalls the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch. The numbering of the fragments appears to be arbitrary, as it does not correspond to the sequence of the biblical story. 4Q379 ii is quoted in 4QTestimonia. For the editio princeps, see Carol Newsom, DJD, XXII, 241—99. 4Q378.. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho at Bethjeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim for thirty days and the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And the children of Israel.. the covenant which the Lord made for... Thy dread and fear..
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4Q378.. for the Lord your God.. to establish his words which he spoke.. the oath which he swore to Abraham to give him a good and broad land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey. For this is a land flowing with milk and honey;. 4Q378 i.. Moses, O my God. And he did not annihilate them because of their sins.. thy people by the hand of Joshua, minister of thy servant Moses thy.. by the hand of Moses to Joshua for the sake of thy people.. the covenant which thou hast made with Abraham... loving-kindness to thousands 4Q379.. they crossed on dry grounds in the first month of the forty-first year of their exodus from the land of Egypt. That was a jubilee year at the beginning of their entry into the land of Canaan. And the Jordan overflows its banks from the fourth month until the wheat harvest.. 4Q379 ii
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Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel.. When Joshua finished offering praise in his thanksgivings, he said: Cursed be the man who rebui1ds this city! May he lay its foundations on his first-born, and set its gate on his youngest son. Behold, an accursed man of Belial has risen to become a fowler's net to his people and a cause of destruction to all his neighbours. And his brother arose and ruled in lies, both of them being instruments of violence. They have rebuilt this city and have set up for it a wall and towers to make it a stronghold of ungodliness in Israel and a horror in Ephraim and in Judah and a great evil among the children of Jacob. And they have committed an abomination in the land and a great blasphemy and shed blood like waters on the ramparts of the daughter of Zion and in the precincts of Jerusalem..
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A Joshua Apocryphon Two fragments detached from an apocryphal account of the end of the Book of Joshua are thought by their editor, S. Talmon, to have originated at Qumran. The composition belongs to the genre of 'rewritten Bible' and testifies to a freedom in retelling scriptural stories. The handwriting places the manuscript towards the turn of the era. For a preliminary edition, see Shemaryahu Talmon, 'Fragments of a Joshua Apocryphon—Masada 1039—211 ', JJS, 128—39. Fr. A.. they were afraid.. they were praising the name of the Most High for they saw that.. God was fighting for His people against their enemies and they were not afraid.. because of them for God was with them and blessed them and saved them. And whatever he said about them happened to them and no word fell to the ground, and He multiplied their seed greatly.
