Note To The Third Edition

Twenty-four more texts, published since the last edition of this book (1964), have now been added, (†)

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[†] They are: The Letter of the Law ('Ordinances'); five fragments from The Book of Hymns; six Poems from a Qumran Hymnal (i.e., the so-called Apocryphal Psalms); Lament for Zion; two short compositions here entitled Hymns of Triumph; Commentary on Psalm 45; The Rout of Belial; Weal and Woe; The Last Jubilee; The Wondrous Child; The Wooing of Wisdom; The Wiles of the Harlot; The Last Words of Amram; and The Epochs of Time. For details concerning these texts (here largely renamed) see the Index of Sources, pp. 541ff.

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The scholarly literature on the Scrolls increases from day to day, and much that was at first obscure is gradually becoming clear. On the other hand, varying theories and 'reconstructions', often premature and fantastic, still abound, and there is a crying need for the interpretation of the texts to be both 'de-mythologized' and de-sensationalized. Nevertheless, I have kept this book to its original purpose, which is to provide a reasonably reliable and literary translation, with only such comment and explication as is minimally necessary to give background and render allusions intelligible to the general reader. (‡) This avoids the encumbrance (if also the spice) of technical controversy.

T.H.G.
New York
July 1975

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[‡] This 'minimum' includes, in some cases, brief explanation of how I have attempted to restore incomplete passages. Such explanations are addressed more especially to readers who are able to follow the original texts and who might otherwise wonder how on earth I 'get it'.

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