These are fragments of wisdom text from the
Dead Sea Scrolls, and part of a collection of fragments referred to as both '
The Secret of the Way Things Are' and 'A
Sapiental Work.'
Fragment 55
3… in toil will we dig her paths, we shall have rest
4… and vigilance shall be in our hearts … He will make all our paths secure …
5… true knowledge, but they did not seek … and they did not choose … Indeed the God of knowledge
6…for truth to establish all … insight He has allotted to those who inherit truth
7… vigilance in … actions indeed peace and quiet a
8… or have you not heard that the holy angels … in heaven
9 truth and they traced back all the causes of insight, and they were vigilant concerning
10… their knowledge, and each man will have honor from his fellow, and his honor will increase according to his intelligence
11… are the angels like mortals, who are slothful? Are they like humans, who cease to be? Indeed
12they obtain an eternal inheritance. Have you not seen ...
Fragment 69
Column 2
4… And now, O foolish of heart, what is goodness without
5… good is tranquility for what has not come to pass? What good is justice for what has not been established? And how can the dead groan for…
6 … "Why were you created?" and "for eternal destruction" is their reply, for …
7… In darkness they will wail for your multitude and what has happened in the world; but those who seek truth will awaken to give judgement …
8they will destroy those who are foolish of heart, and the children of evil will no
longer exist, and all who cling to wickedness will be bewildered
9when you righteous give judgment the pillars of the sky-dome will be shattered, and all the host of heaven will thunder …
10 But you are the chosen of truth, those who earnestly seek … the watchful
11for knowledge. -How can you say, We are weary of insight, and we have been careful to pursue true knowledge …
12and untiring in all the years of eternity. Indeed he will take delight in truth for ever and
knowledge … will serve me …
13heaven, that eternal life is their inheritance. Will they truly
say, We toiled in deeds of truth, we worked hard
14in every era. Indeed, in eternal light they will walk … glory and great honor you …
15in the sky … council of the divinities all … But you, my son, are one who understands …
Fragment 81
1Open your lips as a spring to bless the holy ones, and give praise by the eternal
spring … he has separated you from every
2carnal spirit; so you, be separate from everything he hates, and abstain from every abomination of the soul, for He made everything
3and bestowed an inheritance on everyone. And He Himself is your portion and inheritance among the human race, and He made you ruler over His inheritance. So
4honor Him by this when you consecrate yourself for Him, just as he has placed you among the most holy ones … in every …
5He has cast your lot and increased your honor and has made you like a firstborn son for Him
…
6I will give to you my goodness, and you, is His goodness not for you? So in His faith walk
always …
7your deeds and you should seek His rules at the hand of every …
8Love Him and in kindness and mercy towards all those who keep His words and sanctify …
9And He has opened knowledge for you and made you ruler over His storehouse and given the authority to determine a reliable measure to you …
10are with you, and it is in your power to turn away wrath from those with whom God desires to be reconciled and to number …
11with you. Before you take your inheritance from His hand honor His holy ones, and before …
12He has opened a spring for al1 His holy ones, and all who have been called by His name are holy …
13 for all times His glory and His beauty are for the eternal plantation of His chosen …
14…light all those who inherit the earth shall walk, for in heaven …
15You are one who understands, if He has made you rule over the skill of His hands, and know …
16goodness for all humans who pass by, and from there you will attend to your food …
17consider well and add to your learning by listening to all your instructors …
18show your poverty to all who seek pleasure and then you will establish …
19you will be filled, and satisfied by abundant goodness and by the skill of your hands …
20for God has distributed an inheritance to every living thing and all those who are wise at heart will have success …
Fragment 88
1you will establish all your pleasures …
2in your life He will make you complete a multitude of years …
3be careful of yourself lest you mingle …
4you will judge evil and by the strength of your hands ….
5He will close his hand against your poverty …
6to the sole of your foot, for God seeks among …
7by your hand to live and you will be gathered in …
8and your inheritance will be full in truth, and you will become …
Fragment 102 2pleasure, and righteous truth all his deeds …
3… you are one who understands in truth from every skill of your hands …
4… your movement, and then He will seek your pleasure for all who seek Him …
5… abominable sin He will forgive and in the joy of truth you will …
Fragment 103
2… farmers until all …
3… put in your baskets and in your granaries all … so that a man
4may not forget it, from time to time, study them and do not be silent …
5… for all of them will study at the right time, and each one according to his desire
… your … will be found, indeed …
6like a spring of living water that contains a … your poverty do not mingle …
7lest it become a case of forbidden mixtures like the mule, and you will become like a garment of linsey-woolsey or of wool and flax mingled; or your work might be like one who plows
8with an ox yoked to a donkey; or your produce might
be like one who sows improper mixtures, of which the seed and the full yield and the produce of
9the vineyard should be holy … your money with your body and your life, all will perish together, and in your life you will not find it …
Fragment 126
Column 2
1… not a single one of all their host shall be lacking …
2…in truth from all the storehouse of men …
3… truth, and He has measured the proper weight for all …
4He distinguished them in truth, He made them and for their needs He seeks …
5the secret place of everything, and indeed nothing has happened apart from His will and …
6judgement to wreak vengeance on evildoers and the punishment …
7to lock up the wicked and to show favor to the weak …
8by eternal glory and perpetual peace and the spirit of life to separate …
9all the children of life and in God's strength and the abundance of His glory with His goodness …
10and of His faithfulness they will speak all the day, they will constantly praise His name …
11And you shall walk in truth with all those who seek Him …
12and by your hand His storehouse and from your basket He will seek his pleasure, and you
13and if His hand is not sufficient for your need and the need of His storehouse …
14… and God will arrange it by His pleasure, for God …
15….your hand for what remains, and it will burst out of …
Fragment 127
1… your source and your need you will not find; and your spirit will grow faint unto death, deprived of all goodness …
2… all the day, and your spirit will yearn to enter her gates and you will bury and cover …
3… your body and you will become food between the teeth of wild animals and you will be consumed by pestilence before ..
4…those who seek what they desire, you have oppressed them in their life, and also you …
5… to you, for God has done whatever He wanted in kindness, and apportioned them
in the truth …
6…He weighed their character in the scales of righteousness and in the truth …
Translation by Edward Cook