4Q98 Psalms^q

Language: Hebrew

Date: 50-68 A.D.

Location: Qumran Cave 4

Contents: Psalms 31:23-24 (Hebrew 31:24-25); 33:1-18; 35:4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14-15, 17, 19-20

 

Psalms 31

23 Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints!

Yahweh preserves the faithful,

and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.

24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,

all you who hope in Yahweh.

 

Psalms 33

A Psalm by David. A Song.

1 Rejoice in Yahweh, you righteous!

Praise is fitting for the upright.

2 Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre.

Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings.

3 Sing to him a new song.

Play skillfully with a shout of joy!

4 For Yahweh’s word is right.

All his work is done in faithfulness.

5 He loves righteousness and justice.

The earth is full of the loving kindness of Yahweh.

6 By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made;

all their army by the breath of his mouth.

7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap.

He lays up the deeps in storehouses.

He placed the waters, they stood up like a heap.[1]

8 Let all the earth fear Yahweh.

Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

9 For he spoke, and it was done.

He commanded, and it stood firm.

10 Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.

He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.

11 The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever,

the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh[2],

the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.

13 Yahweh looks from heaven.

He sees all the sons of men.

14 From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,

15 he who fashions all of their hearts;

and he considers all of their works.

16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an army.

A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.

17 A horse is a vain thing for safety,

neither does he deliver any by his great power.

18 Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his loving kindness;

 

Psalms 35

4 Let those who seek after my soul be disappointed and brought to dishonor.

Let those who plot my ruin be turned back and confounded.

[..]

6 Let their way be dark and slippery,

Yahweh’s angel pursuing them.

[..]

8 Let destruction come on him unawares.

Let his net that he has hidden catch himself.

Let him fall into that destruction. 

[..]

10 All my bones shall say, “Yahweh, who is like you,

who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him;

yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?”

[..]

12 They reward me evil for good,

to the bereaving of my soul. 

[..]

14 I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother.

I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.

15 But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together.

The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it.

They tore at me, and didn’t cease.

[..]

17 Lord, how long will you look on?

Rescue my soul from their destruction,

my precious life from the lions.

[..]

19 Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me;

neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.

20 For they don’t speak peace,

but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.