ABSTRACT
The most extensive wisdom writing in the Qumran library is a wisdom instruction sometimes designated as Sapiential Work A. There are substantial parts of this work in 4Q416, 417, and 418. Other parts are preserved in 1Q26, 4Q415, and 4Q423 (Milik and Barthélemy 1955:100-2; Wacholder and Abegg 1991:54-154, 16671; Eisenman and Wise 1992:241-54; Harrington and Strugnell 1993:492-94). Since there are textual overlaps among the various manuscripts, we can be sure that they belong to the same work. All the manuscripts are written in the Herodian formal hand of the late first century BCE or early first century CE. The fact that parts of six copies exist indicates the popularity and importance of the work at Qumran (García Martínez 1994:383-93; Harrington 1994:137-52; Schiffman 1994:203-6; Elgvin 1993:137-52; 1995a:44063; 1995b: 559-80).
