PSALMS, 4Q83

Psalms manuscripts are the most numerous finds among the Dead Sea Scrolls—39 copies dating from 150 BCE to 68 CE. This scroll is likely the oldest and most substantial, preserving 19 different psalms. The psalm order here differs from modern Hebrew Bibles. Notice that Psalm 71 follows Psalm 38, rather than appearing in its familiar sequence. The text also contains extra words not found in current biblical versions. Intriguingly, Psalm 32—a thanksgiving song—doesn’t appear in this scroll or any other Psalms manuscript discovered at Qumran. This absence raises fascinating questions: Was this psalm unknown during the Second Temple period, or was it deliberately excluded? The mystery highlights how our biblical texts evolved over time.

Fragment 9

Detail translation

2 ^{Psalm 38:16}[For in Thee,] LORD, do I hope you will answer, LORD my God. ¹⁷For I said: ‘Let them rejoice over me; when my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me.’ ¹⁸For I am re[ady to fall] and

3 my pain is continually before me.¹⁹Thus [I confess] my iniquity; I am anxious because of my sins. ²⁰ But those who are my enemies without cause are numerous; and ma[ny are those who hate me]

4 by deceiving me. ²¹Those who perform evil instead of good plunder me, instead of a good thing. ²²Do not forsake me, [my] God [LORD do not be not far

5 fro]m me. ²³ Hurry to help me, LORD, my salvation. ^{Psalm 71:1}In you, LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be ashamed. ² In your righteousness

6 deliver me, and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me. ³ Be my sheltering

7 rock, where I may continually resort, which you have appointed to save me; for you are my rock and my fortress. ⁴ My God, rescue me out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the unrighteous and ruthless man. ⁵ For you are my hope;

8 LORD God, my trust from my youth. ⁶Upon you I have stayed myself from [birth]; you are the one that that took me out of my mother’s womb; my [praise is continually of you.]

9 ⁷ I am as a wonder to many; but you are my strong refuge. ⁸My mouth will be filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.

[xxx] = restoration of missing text based on other versions of the same text or scholarly research

LORD = the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter name of God in the Hebrew Bible