The Thanksgiving Hymns

What it is

Some thirty psalms in the first person, each opening with thanks. The speaker is a creature of clay kneaded with water, a foundation of shame and a source of pollution, who has nonetheless been given knowledge of mysteries — and who describes himself in one hymn as a woman in labour bringing forth a wonderful counsellor.

Why it lasted

The most extreme statement of human worthlessness and unearned election in ancient Judaism, and the closest pre-Christian anticipation of the language Paul and Augustine would use about grace.

Scripture it works from

Read it here

The full text is held here and can be read in the reader.

44 sections · complete, from Qumran-Digital transcription: 1QH^a^.

Elsewhere

The complete text is held here and can be read in the reader.

• Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Internet Archive

These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.