The Dead Sea Scrolls, Volume 5A: Thanksgiving Hymns and Related Documents

The Thanksgiving Hymns have been labeled the mystical gems among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some of them may have been composed by the genius who is known as “the Righteous Teacher” in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Other psalms, hymns, or odes were composed by members of the Qumran community. This volume includes all fragments and all portions of the manuscripts of this superb witness to the height of Jewish poetry and thought before 70 CE and the end of early Judaism. Preliminary work on the major manuscript was conducted by Professor Doron Mendels of Israel and Professor Hermann Lichtenberger of Germany. Professor Charlesworth of Princeton spent over fifty years studying the witnesses to The Thanksgiving Hymns and completed the work.

The central focus of the Thanksgiving Hymns is thanksgiving and praise based on a living, covenantal relationship with a Creator within a dualistic and apocalyptic worldview. This is an important reference book for specialists in biblical studies.