Words of the Luminaries: 4Q504, 4Q505, 4Q506

Discovered at Qumran and comprising a prayer for each day of the week, the Words of the Luminaries offers new perspectives on prayer during the Second Temple period and on Jewish and Christian liturgy after the temple’s destruction in 70 CE. Dated well before the sectarian settlement at Qumran, it constitutes our oldest surviving evidence of daily, communal prayer. This volume furnishes the first complete reconstruction and critical edition of this work, also featuring an extensive commenta...