4Q108


4Q108 is a fragment containing a portion of the Song of Songs in Hebrew. Fragments from three such scrolls were found in Cave 4 at Qumran. These, and 6Q6 from Cave 6, estimated from 2nd century BCE, comprise the total witness to the Song from the Dead Sea Scrolls, known so far.

Identification

It is evident that 4Q108 is not from the other two manuscripts of the Song found in the cave. The last two words of Song 3:7, g'bore Israel are already accounted for in 4Q106; and the letters of 4Q107 are formed by an observably different hand to 4Q108. The manner of composition of the letters aleph and shin differs between the manuscripts. Additionally, the lacuna in the second column of 4Q107 does not provide enough space to accommodate 4Q108.

Contents

4Q108 is a "tiny fragment"
containing only ten letters from two lines — five letters each from verses seven and eight of chapter three. The five letters from verse seven are:, the last three letters of the name Solomon; and, the six in the word sixty. The five letters from verse eight are a single word, the passive participle of the verb meaning grasp. So 4Q108 reads:
  • lomon sixequipped

Features

  • The Masoretic Text spells the verb of verse eight with only four letters ; 4Q108, however, contains a consonant representing one of the distinctive vowels of the passive participle.
  • The passive construction used here — aḥuzi ḥereb — is not unique to either the Song or to Hebrew.