Deuteronomy 18 — Dead Sea Scrolls
2 attestation entries • 0 variants • 4QDeut family
Manuscript Overview
Summary
Deuteronomy 18 contains the 'prophet like Moses' promise (vv. 15–19). 4QTestimonia (4Q175), a thematic catena of messianic proof-texts copied c. 100–75 BCE, quotes Deut 18:18–19 (alongside Deut 5:28–29 in a conflated form, Num 24:15–17, and Deut 33:8–11) — early evidence that this passage was read messianically in pre-Christian Judaism. The continuous-text 4QDeut manuscripts do not preserve significant Deut 18 fragments, but 4Q175 supplies a striking witness to its reception.
Notable Variants
MAJOR RECEPTION-HISTORY DATUM: 4QTestimonia conflates Deut 5:28–29 ('the LORD said: it is well, all that they have spoken … would that they had such a heart in them …') with Deut 18:18–19 ('I will raise up for them a prophet like you …') as if they were a single unit. This conflation also appears in the Samaritan Pentateuch's harmonized Decalogue ending and confirms a Second-Temple reading-strategy linking the prophet-like-Moses promise to the Sinai theophany. The Acts 3:22 / 7:37 citation of Deut 18:15-19 thus reflects an established Jewish messianic-prophetic exegesis preserved at Qumran.
Manuscripts
4QTestimonia (4Q175) — quotes vv. 18-19 in a messianic catena.
Scroll Condition
Continuous-text attestation is sparse; the testimony comes principally from the catena 4Q175.
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from your own people, like me. You shall listen to him.
The prophet-like-Moses promise is read messianically in the Qumran catena. Tracks MT consonantally. Cited at Acts 3:22 / 7:37.
4Q175 col. I (citing v. 18-19)
I will raise up for them a prophet from among their own people, like you, and I will put My words in his mouth. He shall speak to them everything I command him.
'I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth' tracks MT in 4QTestimonia.
4Q175 col. I