Dead Sea Scrolls Bible Translations
Change to Scroll View
<< Previous Chapter:
Deuteronomy 31
Book/Chapter View:
Deuteronomy 32
Next Chapter: Deuteronomy 33>>
Translation process is ongoing.
For current status see details

Home

Genesis - 21 Scrolls

Exodus - 18 Scrolls

Leviticus - 12 Scrolls

Numbers - 11 Scrolls

Deuteronomy - 32 Scrolls

Joshua - 2 Scrolls

Judges - 3 Scrolls

Ruth - 4 Scrolls

1 Samuel - 4 Scrolls

2 Samuel - 3 Scrolls

1 Kings - 3 Scrolls

2 Kings - 1 Scroll

2 Chronicles - 1 Scroll

Ezra - 1 Scroll

Job - 4 Scrolls

Psalms - 41 Scrolls

Proverbs - 2 Scrolls

Ecclesiastes - 2 Scrolls

Song of Solomon - 4 Scrolls

Isaiah - 22 Scrolls

Jeremiah - 6 Scrolls

Lamentations - 4 Scrolls

Ezekiel - 4 Scrolls

Daniel - 8 Scrolls

Hosea - 3 Scrolls

Joel - 3 Scrolls

Amos - 4 Scrolls

Obadiah - 2 Scrolls

Jonah - 5 Scrolls

Micah - 4 Scrolls

Nahum - 3 Scrolls

Habakkuk - 3 Scrolls

Zephaniah - 5 Scrolls

Haggai - 3 Scrolls

Zechariah - 5 Scrolls

Malachi - 2 Scrolls

The Translation Process

Frequently Asked Questions

About the Author

Deuteronomy 32 from Scroll 1Q5 Deuteronomyb

17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,

to gods that they didn’t know,

to new gods that came up recently,

which your fathers didn’t dread.

[..]

19 Yahweh saw and abhorred,

because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

20 He said, “I will hide my face from them.

I will see what their end will be;

for they are a very perverse generation,

children in whom is no faithfulness.

21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God.

They have provoked me to anger with their vanities.

I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people.

I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22 For a fire is kindled in my anger,

that burns to the lowest Sheol,

devours the earth with its increase,

and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.

[..]

24 They shall be wasted with hunger,

and devoured with burning heat

and bitter destruction.

I will send the teeth of animals on them,

with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.

25 Outside the sword will bereave,

and in the rooms, terror;

on both young man and virgin,

the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.

26 I said that I would scatter them afar.

I would make their memory to cease from among men;

27 were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,

lest their adversaries should judge wrongly,

lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted,

Yahweh The Lord has not done all this.’ ”

[..]

29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,

that they would consider their latter end!

 

Deuteronomy 32 from Scroll 4Q29 Deuteronomyb

1 Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak.

Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

My doctrine will drop as the rain.

My speech will condense as the dew,

as the misty rain on the tender grass,

as the showers on the herb.

3 For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name.

Ascribe greatness to our God!

 

Deuteronomy 32 from Scroll 4Q30 Deuteronomyc

3 For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name.

Ascribe greatness to our God!

 

Deuteronomy 32 from Scroll 4Q37 Deuteronomyj

7 Remember the days of old.

Consider the years of many generations.

Ask your father, and he will show you;

your elders, and they will tell you.

8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

when he separated the children of men,

he set the bounds of the peoples

according to the number of the children of Israel God[1].

 

Deuteronomy 32 from Scroll 4Q38 Deuteronomyk1

17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,

to gods that they didn’t know,

to new gods that came up recently,

which your fathers didn’t dread.

18 Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful,

and have forgotten God who gave you birth.

[..]

22 For a fire is kindled in my anger,

that burns to the lowest Sheol,

devours the earth with its increase,

and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.

 

23 “I will heap evils on them.

I will spend my arrows on them.

[..]

25 Outside the sword will bereave,

and in the rooms, terror;

on both young man and virgin,

the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.

26 I said that I would scatter them afar.

I would make their memory to cease from among men;

27 were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,

lest their adversaries should judge wrongly,

lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted,

Yahweh has not done all this.’ ”

 

Deuteronomy 32 from Scroll 4Q44 Deuteronomyq

9 For Yahweh’s portion is his people.

Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land,

in the waste howling wilderness.

He surrounded him.

He cared for him.

He kept him as the apple of his eye.

[..]

37 He Yahweh will say,Where are their gods,

the rock in which they took refuge;

38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices,

and drank the wine of their drink offering?

Let them rise up and help you!

Let them be your protection.

39 “See now that I myself am he.

There is no god with me.

I kill and I make alive.

I wound and I heal.

There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare,

as I live forever,

41 if I sharpen my glittering sword,

my hand grasps it in judgment;

I will take vengeance on my adversaries,

and will repay those who hate me.

42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood.

My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives,

And from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”

43 Rejoice, you nations heavens, with his people,

and bow down to him, all gods,

for he will avenge the blood of his servants sons.

He will take vengeance on his adversaries,

And avenge those who hate him,

and will make atonement for his land and for his people.

 

Deuteronomy 32 from Scroll 4Q45 PaleoDeuteronomyr

6 Is this the way you repay Yahweh,

foolish and unwise people?

Isn’t he your father who has bought you?

He has made you and established you.

7 Remember the days of old.

Consider the years of many generations.

Ask your father, and he will show you;

your elders, and they will tell you.

8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

when he separated the children of men,

he set the bounds of the peoples

according to the number of the children of Israel.

[..]

10 He found him in a desert land,

in the waste howling wilderness.

He surrounded him.

He cared for him.

He kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle that stirs up her nest,

that flutters over her young,

he spread abroad his wings,

he took them,

he bore them on his feathers.

[..]

13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth.

He ate the increase of the field.

He caused him to suck honey out of the rock,

oil out of the flinty rock;

14 butter from the herd, and milk from the flock,

with fat of lambs,

rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,

with the finest of the wheat.

From the blood of the grape, you drank wine.

[..]

33 Their wine is the poison of serpents,

the cruel venom of asps.

[..]

35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense,

at the time when their foot slides;

for the day of their calamity is at hand.

Their doom rushes at them.”



[1] This reading matches the LXX.

How to read these pages:

      The translation to the left is based on the World English Bible. Words in regular black font are words in the scrolls matching the traditional text for that passage.

      Words in italics cannot be seen in the scroll, since the scroll is fragmentary. These words are supplied for readability by the World English Bible translation.

      Words present in the scroll but with some letters unreadable or missing are in blue like this: blue. One Hebrew word often is translated into multiple English words, and when this occurs, all the English words are in blue.

      Words present in the scroll but with spelling differences that do not affect the meaning are in green like this: green. This is common in Hebrew.

      If the scroll is different from the traditional text, words in the traditional text that are missing from the text of the scroll are marked through in red like this: strike-through.

      If the scroll is different from the traditional text, words in the scroll that are not in the traditional text are underlined in red like this: new words.