The Self-Glorification Hymn 4Q491c

“

and the council of the poor for an eternal congregation […] the perfect ones of

-4Q491c.4

”

What is The Self-Glorification Hymn 4Q491c

Among the thousands of fragments recovered from the caves at Qumran near the Dead Sea, few are as startling (or as theologically explosive) as the small scrap of parchment designated 4Q491c, better known as the Self-Glorification Hymn.

Discovered in Cave 4 and first published in 1982, this Hebrew text dates to roughly the first century BC and was part of the library of a Zadock Essene that lived by the Dead Sea in the centuries just before the time of Yeshua. What makes it extraordinary is its speaker: a human being (not God, not an archangel, but an unnamed person writing in the first-person voice) who claims to have been enthroned among the heavenly beings, seated on a "mighty throne in the congregation of the elim" (divine beings). He declares that no earthly king or noble can occupy his seat, that his glory is beyond compare, that he dwells in the heavens, and that he has been "reckoned among the divine ones." In the ancient Jewish world, where the boundary between God and humanity was guarded with fierce theological care, such claims were nearly unthinkable.

The speaker goes further still: he says he has borne sorrows and been despised (echoing the language of Isaiah's Suffering Servant) yet has been vindicated and exalted to a station rivaling the angels themselves. 

Scholars have debated intensely who this speaker is supposed to be. Some have identified him as the Teacher of Righteousness, the revered founding figure of the Qumran community, looking back on his vindication after suffering persecution. Others (most notably Israel Knohl and John J. Collins) have argued that he is a messianic figure, an eschatological priest-king who combines suffering and exaltation in a pattern strikingly similar to what Christian texts would later claim for Yeshua of Nazareth. Still others (Crispin Fletcher-Louis, Joseph Angel) read him as an idealized high priest serving in the heavenly sanctuary alongside the angels, reflecting the community's belief that its liturgical worship joined the angelic praise of God.

i 3 Table of Contents

  • 11Q13 aka 11QMelchizedek
  • 3Q15 Copper Scroll
  • Dead Sea Scroll Calendar
  • 4Q246: 4QAramaic Apocalypse
  • 4Q521 The Messianic Apocalypse
  • One World Government

    • Whichever identification one favors, the significance of 4Q491c for understanding the religious world of late Second Temple Judaism is profound. It demonstrates that, well before the rise of Christianity, at least some Jewish writers could imagine a human figure elevated to divine status (suffering, vindicated, and seated among the heavenly host).

    This reshapes how historians understand the intellectual and religious background against which early Christian claims about Yeshua took shape, and it reveals a Jewish mystical-messianic imagination far richer and more daring than was appreciated before the Dead Sea Scrolls came to light.

      What is the Text of 4Q491c

      Here is a fresh translation of 4Q491c using the tools accessible to us. Line eight being the most contested line in the entire hymn. Four current readings:

      1. "Who is like me among those who are not sailors (and yet) returns and recounts?" (Baillet's original; sailors as witnesses of God's wonders per Psalm 107)
      2. "Who is like me? Without ships he shall return, they shall recount" (emending מלחים to ספינות-sense)
      3. "Who is like me in unbeaten paths? He returns and they recount" (emending מלחים to a homophone meaning "salt-lands/trackless places")
      4. Eshel's recent proposal: reading במלאכים ("among messengers/angels") — paleographically defensible and contextually coherent: "Who is like me among the messengers? He returns and they recount." This is the interpretation we have embraced but ther others could be equally correct?

      Translation

      Line 1: [...] הפל[י]א נוראות [...] → "[…] he has performed awesome wonders […]"

      Line 2: [... בחוז]ק כוחו יתרוננו צדיקים וקדושים יגילו ב[...] בצדק → "[…in the streng]th of his power the righteous shout for joy, and the holy ones rejoice in […] in righteousness"

      Line 3: [...] הקים י[שר]אל מעולם אמתו ורזי ערמתו בכו[ל דור ודור ...] עוז → "[…] he established [Is]rael from of old; his truth and the mysteries of his shrewd-wisdom throughou[t every generation …] strength"

      Line 4: [...] ... [...] ... וסוד אביונים לעדת עולם [...] תמימי → "[…] … […] … and the council of the poor for an eternal congregation […] the perfect ones of"

      Line 5: [... עו]לם כסא עוז בעדת אלים בל ישב בו כול מלכי קדם ונדיביהם ל[וא...] דומה → "[…eter]nal; a mighty throne in the congregation of the elim (divine beings) — upon it none of the kings of old shall sit, nor any of their nobles. [Not …] comparable"

      Line 6: [...] לוא יערוך בכבודי ולוא ירום בלעדי ולוא יבוא בי כי אני ישבתי ב[...] בשמים ואין → "[…] none shall be arrayed against my glory, and none shall be exalted apart from me, and none shall enter against me — for I myself have taken my seat in […] in the heavens, and there is no"

      Line 7: [...] ... אני עם אלים אתחשב ומכוני בעדת קודש לוא כבשר [תא]ותי [ו]כול יקר לי בכבוד → "[…] … I am reckoned among the elim, and my station is in the holy congregation. My [desi]re is not as (that of) flesh; [and] everything precious to me is in the glory of"

      Line 8: [... מעו]ן הקודש [מ]י לבוז נחשב בי ומי בכבודי ידמה לי מי כמוני בלוא מלחים ישוב יספרו → "[… dwel]ling of holiness. [Wh]o has been reckoned contemptible like me? Yet who is like me in my glory? Who is like me among the messengers? He returns and they recount."

      Line 9: [...] מי יש[א כול] יגונים כמוני ומי [יס]בול רע ידמה בי אין נוריתי ואין תורה תדמה → "[…] Who bea[rs all] sorrows like me? And who [en]dures evil comparable to me? There is none. I have been taught, and no teaching is comparable"

      Line 10: [בתורתי ...] ומי יקומני בפתחי [פי] ומזל שפתי מי יכיל ומי יועדני וידמה במשפטי → "[to my teaching …] And who shall rise against me when I open [my mouth]? And the outpouring of my lips — who can contain (it)? And who can arraign me and stand comparison with my judgment?"

      Line 11: [... ידיד המלך רע לקדושים ... ולוא יערוך ב]י כיא אני עם אלים מע[מדי וכבו]די עם בני מלך לוא ב[פז] אכתיר לי וכתם אופירים → "[… beloved of the king, companion to the holy ones … and none shall be arrayed against m]e — for I am with the elim, my [standing-place (is there), and] my [glor]y is with the sons of the king. Not with [pure gold] shall I crown myself, nor with the fine gold of Ophir"

      Line 12: [...] vacat [...] vacat [...] → "[…] [blank space] […] [blank space] […]"

      Line 13: [... רננו] צדיקים באלוהי [...] במעון קודש זמרו ל[ו ...] → "[… Shout for joy,] O righteous ones, in the God of […]; in the holy dwelling sing to [him …]"

      Line 14: [... ה]שמיעו בהגי רננות [...] בשמחת עולם ואין [...] → "[… pro]claim in meditations of jubilation […] in eternal joy, and there is no […]"

      Line 15: [...] להקים קרן מ[שיחו ...] → "[…] to raise up the horn of [his] Mess[iah …]"

      Line 16: [...] להודיע גבורתו בעוז [...] → "[…] to make known his might with strength […]"

      Line 17: [...] ... [...] → "[…] … […]" (Fragmentary; no continuous text preserved.)

      Read "Messiah Ben David"

      For more information see "Messiah Ben David".

      Read "11Q13"

      For more information see "11Q13".

      Read "3Q15 Copper Scroll"

      For more information see "3Q15 Copper Scroll".