Σ Scriptorium Press · The Plainspoken Classics

The Thanksgiving Hymns — Column 18

The Qumran Community · a new plain-English translation from the original language

📖 Read in the book reader 🎧 Listen (audiobook) 📚 The whole book 🔖 Reader's guide

[...] [in] Your thought? all things came into being? [and] in? the purpose? of Your heart [was established] [...] [and] [apart from You] [not]

[is] anything done, and without Your will nothing comes to be [...] and none understands [Your wisdom]

and into [the secret] of Your mysteries no one gazes [...] and what then is man? Dust he is [...] [clay]

shaped, and to dust is his return [...] for You give us understanding of such wonders, and in the secret of [Your truth]

You make known to us [...] and I am dust and ash; what can I devise without Your desire [...] and what am I accounted?

apart from Your will [...] how can I be strong unless You have established me [...] and how would I stumble unless You had formed

me [...] and what can I speak unless You have opened my mouth [...] and how could I answer unless You had given me understanding [...]

Behold, You are prince of the gods and king of the glorious ones, and lord of every spirit, and ruler over every deed [...]

and apart from You nothing is done [...] and nothing is known without Your will [...] and there is none besides You

and there is none with You in power [...] and there is nothing to set against Your glory, and for Your might there is no price [...] and who

among all Your great wondrous deeds could retain strength to stand before Your glory [...]

And what then is he who returns to his dust, that he should retain strength? [...] Only for Your glory have You done all these things [...]

Blessed are You, my Lord, God of mercies and [great in] steadfast love, for You have made me know these things, to recount

Your wonders, and not to be silent day and night [...] to You belongs all the host in abundance [...]

for Your steadfast love, in the greatness of Your goodness, and [the abundance of] [Your mercies] [...] I take delight in [Your forgivenesses]

for I have leaned upon Your truth [and] [...] Your [...] and there is none [...] [without]

Your station, and without [Your hand] [there is] [no] [judgment], and [without] Your rebuke there is no stumbling [and] [there is none]

affliction without Your knowledge, and [nothing] [is done] [without] [Your will] [...]

And I, according to my knowledge of [Your truth], [will sing] [of] [Your steadfast love], and as I gaze upon Your glory I will recount

Your wonders [...] and as I understand [the secret] of [Your wonder] [I will wait] for the [abundance] of Your mercies, and for Your forgivenesses

I hope [...] for You have formed the [spirit] of [Your servant], [and] [according to] [Your will] You have established me [...] and You have not given

my support to unjust gain, and in [violent] wealth [not] [...] [my heart], and a fleshly inclination You have not made my refuge [...]

the wealth of mighty men over abundance of delights, [and] [they take delight] in the abundance of grain, new wine, and oil [...]

and they exalt themselves in cattle and possessions [...] [and] [they flourish] [like] a [luxuriant] tree by streams of water, putting forth leaf

and multiplying branch [...] for You have chosen [them] [from] [all] [the sons of] man, and to fatten all from the earth [...]

and to the sons of Your truth You have given understanding [...] forever [...] and according to their knowledge they are honored

each man above his fellow [...] and so for the son of man [...] [for] [a man] You have increased his inheritance

in knowledge of Your truth [...] and according to his knowledge he shall [...] [for] the soul of Your servant abhors wealth

and unjust gain, and in the height of delights not [...] for my heart rejoices in Your covenant, and Your truth

delights my soul [...] and I blossom like a lily, and my heart is opened to an eternal fountain [...]

and my support is in a refuge from on high, and [...] toil [...] and it fades like a blossom before the wind [...]

and my heart reels in anguish, and my loins in trembling [...] and my groaning goes down to the deep

and it searches together in the chambers of Sheol [...] and I am terrified when I hear Your judgments together with the mighty

of strength, and Your dispute with the host of Your holy ones in the heavens, and [...]

and judgment on all Your works, and righteousness [...]

[...]

[...] my

[...] my iniquity [...]

An original translation made in 2026 by Scriptorium Press, working directly from the original language text (never from another English translation), in one consistent modern voice. Free to read, download, and listen — no accounts, no ads, nothing for sale.

← All of The Qumran Community: The Dead Sea Scrolls