Acknowledgements
This study is a revised version of my dissertation, “Transformations in Sapiential Thought. 4Q185 in Context,” which I defended at the Faculty of Theology, Humboldt University of Berlin, in the winter semester of 2021/2022. Completing a dissertation truly takes a village, and I am deeply grateful for the tremendous support I have received over the past years.
First and foremost, I wish to thank my teacher and supervisor, Prof. Dr. Dr. Bernd U. Schipper, for welcoming me into his Proverbs team in 2013 as an undergraduate and for his unwavering support of my academic endeavors since then. He encouraged me to pursue a PhD in Hebrew Bible and guided me through the project with his expertise and insight.
I also extend my gratitude to my second supervisor, apl. Prof. Dr. Annette Steudel, DFG project Qumran Digital, Niedersächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. I am grateful for countless meetings and phone calls, and for her deep engagement with the intricate details of the paleographical analysis of 4Q185. I also thank her and PD Dr. phil. Ingo Kottsieper for granting me access to the invaluable database of the DFG project even before its official release. Without their support, this work would not have been possible.
I am indebted to Dr. habil. Mika Pajunen for generously providing me with his unpublished edition of 4Q185, which will appear in the new edition of the fifth volume of Discoveries in the Judean Desert.
I would furthermore like to thank the Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies, particularly Prof. Dr. Markus Witte, Dr. Carmen Marcks-Jacobs, and Dr. Regina Attula, for their financial and academic support through the ALT (Ancient Languages and Texts) graduate program.
I am grateful for the engaging and insightful discussions with both current and former members of the HU-Berlin Old Testament Society, especially Prof. Dr. Sonja Ammann, Dr. Rebekka Luther, Dr. Brinthanan Puvaneswaran, Dr. des. Maximilian Rechholz, Dr. Meike J. Röhrig, Dr. Sophie Tätweiler, Dr. Ann-Kristin Wigand, and Annette Schulz.
Special thanks go to Prof. George J. Brooke and Prof. Jutta Jokiranta for including this work in the Studies on the Texts from the Desert of Judah series, and to the anonymous reviewers for their careful and critical evaluation of the work.
I would also like to express my appreciation to Marlou Meems from TAT Zetwerk and Marjolein van Zuylen from Brill Publishers for their support throughout the publication process.
This book is dedicated to my parents, Elisabeth and Ernst-Wilhelm Hoppe. I am profoundly grateful for their unwavering support and encouragement.
Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my wife, Caroline, and our daughter, Johanne, for their boundless patience and for continuously reminding me of the richness of life beyond the confines of my desk.