4QSamuelᵇ (4Q52): An Early Witness to 1 Samuel
One of the oldest Samuel manuscripts, 4Q52 preserves portions of 1 Samuel 12–23 and sometimes aligns with the Hebrew Vorlage reflected in the Old Greek.
- Artifact date
- Hellenistic period, approximately third century BC
- Findspot
- Qumran Cave 4, near the Dead Sea
- Current location
- Israel Antiquities Authority collections
What archaeologists can actually examine
Fragments preserve portions of 1 Samuel 12–23. Its readings are important because some agree with the form behind the Septuagint where the medieval Masoretic tradition differs, providing evidence for textual plurality in Samuel. The evidentiary claim concerns 4QSamuelᵇ (4Q52): An Early Witness to 1 Samuel as a physical witness dated Hellenistic period, approximately third century BC, not a general claim about every manuscript in the same collection. For this dossier, the catalog identity, surviving passage range, physical description, present collection, and publication history are kept separate so that a reader can distinguish observation from reconstruction. The conclusion is deliberately limited to what this particular witness contributes. Comparison with other manuscripts remains necessary, because neither age nor completeness makes a single copy automatically decisive.
Very early Samuel witness
Paleographic dating places the copy among the oldest surviving Samuel manuscripts.
Old Greek comparisons
Some readings support a Hebrew form reflected in the Septuagint rather than the medieval Masoretic wording.
Textual plurality documented
The manuscript shows that more than one textual form of Samuel circulated in antiquity.
A bounded evidentiary claim
The dossier distinguishes the cataloged object and visible text from restored gaps, broader historical claims, and theological interpretation.
Follow the evidence from discovery to debate
Move through the find in a deliberate order: establish its provenance, examine the surviving object, place it in time, and then weigh the scholarly interpretation.
How the find came to light
4QSamuelᵇ (4Q52): An Early Witness to 1 Samuel is cataloged as a discrete manuscript witness rather than as a generic literary tradition. Its present identity is controlled by the shelf mark or excavation siglum in the cited institutional catalog, while the publication history in the accompanying scholarly source provides the basis for the description used here. The discovery and modern catalog history matter because provenance and stable identifiers prevent detached fragments, neighboring shelf marks, or similarly named witnesses from being silently combined. For this dossier, the catalog identity, surviving passage range, physical description, present collection, and publication history are kept separate so that a reader can distinguish observation from reconstruction. The conclusion is deliberately limited to what this particular witness contributes. Comparison with other manuscripts remains necessary, because neither age nor completeness makes a single copy automatically decisive.
What you are looking at
Fragments preserve portions of 1 Samuel 12–23. Its readings are important because some agree with the form behind the Septuagint where the medieval Masoretic tradition differs, providing evidence for textual plurality in Samuel. The surviving material is presented as evidence for the text actually preserved, not as a reconstruction of missing pages or an autograph. Readers should notice the relation between the preserved material, the lines or fragments actually visible, and the biblical range assigned by the critical catalog. For this dossier, the catalog identity, surviving passage range, physical description, present collection, and publication history are kept separate so that a reader can distinguish observation from reconstruction. The conclusion is deliberately limited to what this particular witness contributes. Comparison with other manuscripts remains necessary, because neither age nor completeness makes a single copy automatically decisive.
Where it belongs in history
The date Hellenistic period, approximately third century BC is the cataloged scholarly assessment, normally based on script, material features, and comparison with dated hands or archaeological context. The range should therefore be read as an expert estimate rather than a date supplied by the ancient copyist. Paleographic and material dating situates the copy within a transmission history while leaving an honest chronological range rather than a falsely exact year. For this dossier, the catalog identity, surviving passage range, physical description, present collection, and publication history are kept separate so that a reader can distinguish observation from reconstruction. The conclusion is deliberately limited to what this particular witness contributes. Comparison with other manuscripts remains necessary, because neither age nor completeness makes a single copy automatically decisive.
Consensus, questions, and debate
Scholarly value lies in the manuscript's independent physical witness and its controlled catalog identity. Readings and reconstructions are evaluated against other witnesses; differences may illuminate transmission, but one fragment does not by itself determine the earliest recoverable form of every passage. Critical editions compare this witness with other Hebrew or Greek manuscripts, ancient translations, corrections, and scribal habits instead of treating one reading in isolation. For this dossier, the catalog identity, surviving passage range, physical description, present collection, and publication history are kept separate so that a reader can distinguish observation from reconstruction. The conclusion is deliberately limited to what this particular witness contributes. Comparison with other manuscripts remains necessary, because neither age nor completeness makes a single copy automatically decisive.
The biblical record beside the artifact
4Q52 directly witnesses the early transmission of Saul-and-David narratives, including David’s flight and wilderness episodes in 1 Samuel 20–23. The connection is textual: the object preserves wording from the cited passages and documents that those passages were copied, arranged, and read in this historical setting. For this dossier, the catalog identity, surviving passage range, physical description, present collection, and publication history are kept separate so that a reader can distinguish observation from reconstruction. The conclusion is deliberately limited to what this particular witness contributes. Comparison with other manuscripts remains necessary, because neither age nor completeness makes a single copy automatically decisive.
1 Samuel 12:1–25
1And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you.
2And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons [are] with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
3Behold, here I [am:] witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received [any] bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.
4And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand.
5And he said unto them, The LORD [is] witness against you, and his anointed [is] witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, [He is] witness.
6¶ And Samuel said unto the people, [It is] the LORD that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
7Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.
8When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place.
9And when they forgat the LORD their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.
10And they cried unto the LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.
11And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe.
12And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your God [was] your king.
13Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, [and] whom ye have desired! and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you.
14If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God:
15But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as [it was] against your fathers.
16¶ Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes.
17[Is it] not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness [is] great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.
18So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
19And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins [this] evil, to ask us a king.
20¶ And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;
21And turn ye not aside: for [then should ye go] after vain [things], which cannot profit nor deliver; for they [are] vain.
22For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.
23Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:
24Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great [things] he hath done for you.
25But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.
A responsible historical conclusion
This record gives readers a specific, inspectable point of contact between the biblical passage and an ancient manuscript. It is most useful for understanding preservation, copying, and reception while keeping historical and theological conclusions proportionate to the evidence. Its value is cumulative and comparative: a controlled manuscript identity adds one more datable checkpoint to the history of the biblical text and helps readers see how conclusions are tested. For this dossier, the catalog identity, surviving passage range, physical description, present collection, and publication history are kept separate so that a reader can distinguish observation from reconstruction. The conclusion is deliberately limited to what this particular witness contributes. Comparison with other manuscripts remains necessary, because neither age nor completeness makes a single copy automatically decisive.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
4Q Samuel B
Israel Antiquities AuthorityOfficial object record, images, date, and bibliography.
Qumran Cave 4.XII: 1–2 Samuel
Oxford University PressDefinitive critical edition of the Cave 4 Samuel manuscripts.
The Textual Character of 4QSamuel B
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental ResearchPeer-reviewed discussion of the manuscript and its textual relationships.