ABSTRACT
The Hebrew poem translated here has been given the name ‘Apostrophe to Zion’ by the modern editors of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 1 The rhetorical term ‘apostrophe’ designates an address to someone not present or to a personified idea. In this case, the poet addresses Jerusalem which he pictures in ideal, almost eschatological terms. This composition is one of a group of poems dealing with Jerusalem which were apparently available to the composers of the sectarian scrolls and which must have been part of the shared literature of the ancient Jewish community. 2
