4QPsx: A Collective Interpretation of Psalm 89:20-38

This study deals with a small, puzzling fragment, 4QPsx (4QPs89), that has been aptly described in DJD 16 as "one of the most unusual Psalms manuscripts found at Qumran." The fragment has text parallel to MT Ps 89:20-31, but with differences in the form of the text and its order. Most scholars have argued that the text form of 4QPsx should be seen as a source for, or an early version of, Psalm 89. I offer a different assessment of the manuscript here. First, to determine whether 4QPsx originally contained the whole of Psalm 89 or only a part of it, several material aspects relating to the actual fragment are considered. Then the contents of the fragment and the text's structure are analyzed. I conclude that a common motif behind the text form of 4QPsx can account for most of the variants and that the text of the fragment is secondary to MT Psalm 89.