מחזור התהילות' מתוך שיר עולת השבת השישית: נוסח, לשון וליטורגיה'

The Cycle of Praises is one of the poetic units that comprise the sixth of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (Mas ii || 4Q403 1 i 1–9 || 4Q404 1 || 4Q405 3 i). The paper investigates the literary structure of the poem and offers a linguistic and text-critical analysis of variant readings (witnessed by the various manuscripts) that have implications for the proper understanding of several aspects of the poetic text: its literary delineation, discursive structuring, liturgical performance, and thematic content. On the basis of this analysis, it is suggested that the poem depicts a liturgical performance of an antiphonal nature. The intricate relations between the poem’s constituents are shown to follow a music-like logic; namely, they constitute a poetic construction of sevenfold variations on a single theme, which culminates in an underscoring of God’s holiness.