Deuteronomy 30 — Dead Sea Scrolls
3 attestation entries • 0 variants • 4QDeut family
Manuscript Overview
Summary
Deuteronomy 30 contains the great repentance-and-return passage (vv. 1–10) and the 'this commandment is not too hard for you' speech (vv. 11–14, cited by Paul at Rom 10:6–8). 4QDeutᵇ preserves vv. 3–14 — directly covering the famous Pauline-citation passage.
Notable Variants
No significant content variants. The 'word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart' passage (v. 14) is preserved as in MT — the Hebrew Vorlage of Rom 10:8.
Manuscripts
4QDeutᵇ (4Q29), 4QDeutˡ (4Q39), 4QDeutᶜ (4Q30)
Scroll Condition
4QDeutᵇ provides good coverage of the climactic vv. 3–14.
The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your being — so that you may live.
'The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring' tracks MT. The eschatological heart-circumcision motif resonates with Jer 31:31-34 / 4:4 and Rom 2:29.
4QDeutᵇ frag. 1
It is not in heaven, so that you would need to say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to us, so we can hear it and do it?'
'Who will go up for us to heaven and bring it to us?' tracks MT. Paul applies this Christologically at Rom 10:6, identifying the descending word with Christ's incarnation.
4QDeutᵇ frag. 1
The word is very near to you — in your mouth and in your heart — so that you can do it.
'The word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it' tracks MT. Cited at Rom 10:8 as the basis for the proximity of the gospel word.
4QDeutᵇ frag. 1