Wikipedia's first sentence called it “piece of vellum from among the dead sea scrolls containing two separate short works”. Today it says “piece of parchment from among the dead sea scrolls”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2025
4Q448 , often called the " Hymn to King Jonathan ," is a piece of parchment from among the Dead Sea Scrolls , found in Cave 4 , containing two separate short works, part of Psalm 154 and a prayer mentioning a King Jonathan ( Yəhōnatan ). The only King Jonathan in early Jewish history was Alexander Jannaeus ("Jannaeus" being an abbreviated form of "Jonathan") and it is widely believed that this was the King Jonathan of 4Q448, though some doubt has been raised over the identification. The first column of the prayer may read: 1 "the holy city, 2 for Jonathan the king 3 and all the congregation of your people 4 Israel 5 which have been dispersed to the four 6 winds of the heavens 7 let peace be on all of them 8 and your kingdom" 9 "And may your name be praised" Others translate the first and second line quite differently: "Arise O Holy One against Jonathan the king" If this text does in fact portray Alexander Jannaeus in a favorable light, it discounts his identification as the Wicked Priest , a figure mentioned in other scrolls. Goranson, with bibliography, see Goranson in the references, as well as Emmanuelle Main in the footnotes. In this interpretation, the prayer is asking God himself to rise against the king. According to Steudel (2006), 4Q448 is quite similar to the larger manuscript 4QMMT based on philological analysis. Therefore these two manuscripts may have originally belonged to the same composition. In this translation "your" is twice capitalized ("Your"), implying reference to God. Garcia Martinez (loc. cit.) doesn't capitalize it.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1293229865.
The opening as it stood in 2010
4Q448 is a piece of vellum from among the Dead Sea Scrolls containing two separate short works, part of Psalm 154 and a prayer mentioning King Jonathan. The only King Jonathan in early Jewish history was Alexander Jannaeus ("Jannaeus" being an abbreviated form of "Jonathan") and it is widely believed that this was the King Jonathan of 4Q448, though some doubt has been raised over the identification. The first column of the prayer may read: 1 "the holy city, 2 for Jonathan the king 3 and all the congregation of your people 4 Israel 5 which have been dispersed to the four 6 winds of the heavens 7 let peace be on all of them 8 and your kingdom" 9 "And may your name be praised" Others translate the first line quite differently: "Arise O Holy One" If this text does in fact portray Alexander Jannaeus in a favorable light, it discounts his identification as the Wicked Priest , a figure mentioned in other scrolls. In this translation "your" is twice capitalized ("Your"), implying reference to God. Garcia Martinez (loc. cit.) doesn't capitalize it.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 364572088.
The opening as it stood in 2015
4Q448 , often called the " Hymn to King Jonathan ," is a piece of parchment from among the Dead Sea Scrolls containing two separate short works, part of Psalm 154 and a prayer mentioning King Jonathan. The only King Jonathan in early Jewish history was Alexander Jannaeus ("Jannaeus" being an abbreviated form of "Jonathan") and it is widely believed that this was the King Jonathan of 4Q448, though some doubt has been raised over the identification. The first column of the prayer may read: 1 "the holy city, 2 for Jonathan the king 3 and all the congregation of your people 4 Israel 5 which have been dispersed to the four 6 winds of the heavens 7 let peace be on all of them 8 and your kingdom" 9 "And may your name be praised" Others translate the first line quite differently: "Arise O Holy One" If this text does in fact portray Alexander Jannaeus in a favorable light, it discounts his identification as the Wicked Priest , a figure mentioned in other scrolls. Goranson, with bibliography, see Goranson in the references. In this translation "your" is twice capitalized ("Your"), implying reference to God. Garcia Martinez (loc. cit.) doesn't capitalize it.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 545735473.
The opening as it stood in 2020
4Q448 , often called the " Hymn to King Jonathan ," is a piece of parchment from among the Dead Sea Scrolls , found in Cave 4 , containing two separate short works, part of Psalm 154 and a prayer mentioning King Jonathan. The only King Jonathan in early Jewish history was Alexander Jannaeus ("Jannaeus" being an abbreviated form of "Jonathan") and it is widely believed that this was the King Jonathan of 4Q448, though some doubt has been raised over the identification. The first column of the prayer may read: 1 "the holy city, 2 for Jonathan the king 3 and all the congregation of your people 4 Israel 5 which have been dispersed to the four 6 winds of the heavens 7 let peace be on all of them 8 and your kingdom" 9 "And may your name be praised" Others translate the first line quite differently: "Arise O Holy One" If this text does in fact portray Alexander Jannaeus in a favorable light, it discounts his identification as the Wicked Priest , a figure mentioned in other scrolls. Goranson, with bibliography, see Goranson in the references. In this translation "your" is twice capitalized ("Your"), implying reference to God. Garcia Martinez (loc. cit.) doesn't capitalize it.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 883530364.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
4Q448 , often called the " Hymn to King Jonathan ," is a piece of parchment from among the Dead Sea Scrolls , found in Cave 4 , containing two separate short works, part of Psalm 154 and a prayer mentioning a King Jonathan ( Yəhōnatan ). The only King Jonathan in early Jewish history was Alexander Jannaeus ("Jannaeus" being an abbreviated form of "Jonathan") and it is widely believed that this was the King Jonathan of 4Q448, though some doubt has been raised over the identification. The first column of the prayer may read: 1 "the holy city, 2 for Jonathan the king 3 and all the congregation of your people 4 Israel 5 which have been dispersed to the four 6 winds of the heavens 7 let peace be on all of them 8 and your kingdom" 9 "And may your name be praised" Others translate the first line quite differently: "Arise O Holy One" If this text does in fact portray Alexander Jannaeus in a favorable light, it discounts his identification as the Wicked Priest , a figure mentioned in other scrolls. Goranson, with bibliography, see Goranson in the references. According to Steudel (2006), 4Q448 is quite similar to the larger manuscript 4QMMT based on philological analysis.Therefore these two manuscripts may have originally belonged to the same composition. In this translation "your" is twice capitalized ("Your"), implying reference to God. Garcia Martinez (loc. cit.) doesn't capitalize it.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1161728445.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “piece of vellum from among the dead sea scrolls containing two separate short works”. Today it says “piece of parchment from among the dead sea scrolls”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
piece of vellum from among the dead sea scrolls containing two separate short works
Now
piece of parchment from among the dead sea scrolls
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
