Dead Sea Scrolls

Coordinates: 31°44′27″N 35°27′31″E / 31.74083°N 35.45861°E / 31.74083; 35.45861

The Psalms Scroll with transcription.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name. They were specifically located at Khirbet Qumran in the British Mandate for Palestine, in what is now known as Judea.

The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include the oldest known surviving copies of Biblical and extra-biblical documents and preserve evidence of great diversity in late Second Temple Judaism. They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, mostly on parchment, but with some written on papyrus.^[1] These manuscripts generally date between 150 BCE and 70 CE.^[2] The scrolls are traditionally identified with the ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes, though some recent interpretations have challenged this association and argue that the scrolls were penned by priests in Jerusalem, Zadokites, or other unknown Jewish groups.^[3][4]

The Dead Sea Scrolls are traditionally divided into three groups: "Biblical" manuscripts (copies of texts from the Hebrew Bible), which comprise roughly 40% of the identified scrolls; "Apocryphal" or "Pseudepigraphical" manuscripts (known documents from the Second Temple Period like Enoch, Jubilees, Tobit, Sirach, non-canonical psalms, etc., that were not ultimately canonized in the Hebrew Bible), which comprise roughly 30% of the identified scrolls; and "Sectarian" manuscripts (previously unknown documents that speak to the rules and beliefs of a particular group or groups within greater Judaism) like the Community Rule, War Scroll, Pesher on Habakkuk (Hebrew: פשר pesher = "Commentary"), and the Rule of the Blessing, which comprise roughly 30% of the identified scrolls.^[5]

Discovery

Qumran cave 4, one of the caves in which the scrolls were found

Remains of the west wing of the main building at Qumran.

In the winter of 1946–47, Muhammed edh-Dhib and his cousin discovered the caves, and soon afterwards the scrolls, not far from the known ruins of Khirbet Qumran that had been known to European explorers since the 19th century.^[6] The excavated settlement of Qumran, suggested by Pliny the Elder, is one kilometer inland from the northwest shore of the Dead Sea.^[7] The scrolls were found in 11 caves nearby, between 125 meters (e.g., Cave 4) and one kilometer (e.g., Cave 1) away. No texts were found within the excavated settlement, therefore failing to attract further investigation of the nearby terrain, and it remained unknown that the settlement originally included the caves which are not mentioned in the ancient texts.^[8] The proximity to a water source was explained by the presence of mikvahot (ritual baths) in the settlement, lending further credence to the settlement being the base of the Essene community.^[9] However, later comparative analysis of pottery, discovery of ink wells, and two layers of ash suggest that scrolls were produced at the settlement, but any texts present in the buildings during the Roman raid were destroyed in the ensuing fire, explaining lack of organic material in the site.^[10]

John C. Trever reconstructed the story of the scrolls from several interviews with the Bedouin. edh-Dhib's cousin noticed the caves, but edh-Dhib himself was the first to actually fall into one. He retrieved a handful of scrolls, which Trever identifies as the Isaiah Scroll, Habakkuk Commentary, and the Community Rule (originally known as "Manual of Discipline"), and took them back to the camp to show to his family. None of the scrolls were destroyed in this process, despite popular rumor.^[11] The Bedouin kept the scrolls hanging on a tent pole while they figured out what to do with them, periodically taking them out to show people. At some point during this time, the Community Rule was split in two.

The Bedouin first took the scrolls to a dealer named Ibrahim 'Ijha in Bethlehem. 'Ijha returned them, saying they were worthless, after being warned that they might have been stolen from a synagogue. Undaunted, the Bedouin went to a nearby market, where a Syrian Christian offered to buy them. A sheikh joined their conversation and suggested they take the scrolls to Khalil Eskander Shahin, "Kando," a cobbler and part-time antiques dealer. The Bedouin and the dealers returned to the site, leaving one scroll with Kando and selling three others to a dealer for £7 GBP ($29 in 2003 US dollars).^[11]

Arrangements with the Bedouin left the scrolls in the hands of a third party until a profitable sale of them could be negotiated. That third party, George Isha'ya, was a member of the Syrian Orthodox Church, who soon contacted St. Mark's Monastery in the hope of getting an appraisal of the nature of the texts. News of the find then reached Metropolitan Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, better known as Mar Samuel.

After examining the scrolls and suspecting their antiquity, Mar Samuel expressed an interest in purchasing them. Four scrolls found their way into his hands: the now famous Isaiah Scroll (Community Rule, the Habakkuk Pesher (a commentary on the book of Habakkuk), and the Genesis Apocryphon. More scrolls soon surfaced in the antiquities market, and Professor Eleazer Sukenik and Professor Benjamin Mazar, Israeli archaeologists at Hebrew University, soon found themselves in possession of three, The War Scroll, Thanksgiving Hymns, and another, more fragmented, Isaiah scroll.

By the end of 1947, Sukenik and Mazar received word of the scrolls in Mar Samuel's possession and attempted to purchase them. No deal was reached, and instead the scrolls caught the attention of Dr. John C. Trever, of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), who compared the script in the scrolls to that of The Nash Papyrus, the oldest biblical manuscript then known, and found similarities between them.

Dr. Trever, a keen amateur photographer, met with Mar Samuel on February 21, 1948, when he photographed the scrolls. The quality of his photographs often exceeded the visibility of the scrolls themselves over the years, as the ink of the texts quickly deteriorated after they were removed from their linen wrappings.

Ad for "Dead Sea Scrolls" in the Wall Street Journal

The scrolls were analyzed using a cyclotron at the University of California, Davis, where it was found that the black ink used was iron-gall ink.^[12] The red ink on the scrolls was cinnabar (HgS, mercury sulfide).^[12]

In March, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War prompted the removal of the scrolls to Beirut, Lebanon for safekeeping.

Early in September 1948, Mar brought Professor Ovid R. Sellers, the new Director of ASOR, some additional scroll fragments that he had acquired. By the end of 1948, nearly two years after their discovery, scholars had yet to locate the cave where the fragments had been found. With unrest in the country at that time, no large-scale search could be undertaken. Sellers attempted to get the Syrians to help him locate the cave, but they demanded more money than he could offer. Finally, Cave 1 was discovered, on January 28, 1949, by a United Nations observer.

The Dead Sea Scrolls went up for sale eventually, in an advertisement in the June 1, 1954 Wall Street Journal.

On July 1, the scrolls, after delicate negotiations and accompanied by three people including the Metropolitan, arrived at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. They were purchased by Prof. Mazar and the son of Prof. Sukenik, Yigael Yadin, for US$250,000 ($2.04 million in present-day terms^[13]) and brought to Jerusalem, where they were on display at the Rockefeller Museum. In December 1965, the British Museum held an exhibition of the "Jordanian Dead Sea Scrolls" which aroused great public interest and attracted large attendances.^[14] After the Six-Day War, they were moved to the Shrine of the Book.

Ownership dispute

Jordan alleges that the scrolls were stolen from the Rockefeller Museum, which was operated by Jordan from 1966 until the Six-Day War when advancing Israeli forces took control of the Museum. After the war Israel moved the scrolls to the Shrine of the Book in the Israel Museum. Jordan regularly demands their return and petitions third-party countries that host the scrolls to return them to Jordan instead of to Israel, claiming they have legal documents that prove Jordanian ownership of the scrolls.^[15][16][17] When the scrolls arrived for a 2009 exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Palestinian Authority and Canadian pro-Palestinian activists called on the Canadian government to cancel the showing and seize the scrolls under disputed international law. Ottawa dismissed the demands and the exhibit was enormously successful, with the scrolls returning to Israel upon its conclusion. Jordan has also asked the UN to intervene.^[18]

The Caves

The caves surrounding Qumran are numbered based upon the order of their discovery and their production of scrolls and scroll fragments. Therefore, caves 7-9 and 4 are very close to the settlement at Qumran, while caves 1, 3, and 11 are farther away. Likewise, there are hundreds of other caves surrounding Qumran, discovered both before and after the 11 scroll caves, that did not produce scrolls and are therefore not numbered as scroll caves. Below is a summary of each of the Qumran Caves:

Cave 1

Cave 1 was discovered in the winter or spring of 1947. It was first excavated by Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux from February 15 to March 5, 1949.^[19] In addition to the original seven scrolls, Cave 1 produced jars and bowls, whose chemical composition and shape matched vessels discovered at the settlement at Qumran, pieces of cloth, and additional fragments that matched portions of the original scrolls, thereby confirming that the original scrolls came from Cave 1.

The original seven scrolls from Cave 1 are:^[20]

• 1QIsa^a ("Great Isaiah Scroll", a copy of the book of "Isaiah")
• 1QIsa^b (a second copy of the book of "Isaiah")
• 1QS ("Community Rule") cf. 4QS^a-j = 4Q255-64, 5Q11
• 1QpHab ("Pesher on Habakkuk")
• 1QM ("War Scroll") cf. 4Q491, 4Q493
• 1QH ("Thanksgiving Hymns")
• 1QapGen ("Genesis Apocryphon")

Cave 2

Cave 2 was discovered in February 1952.^[21] It yielded 300 fragments from 33 manuscripts, including Jubilees and the Wisdom of Sirach in the original Hebrew.

Cave 3

Cave 3 was discovered on March 14, 1952.^[21] The cave yielded 14 manuscripts including Jubilees and the curious Copper Scroll, which lists 67 hiding places, mostly underground, throughout the ancient Roman province of Judea (now Israel). According to the scroll, the secret caches held astonishing amounts of gold, silver, copper, aromatics, and manuscripts.

Cave 4

Cave 4 was discovered in August 1952, and was excavated from September 22–29, 1952 by Gerald Lankester Harding, Roland de Vaux, and Józef Milik.^[22] Cave 4 is actually two hand-cut caves (4a and 4b), but since the fragments were mixed, they are labeled as 4Q. Cave 4 is the most famous of Qumran caves both because of its visibility from the Qumran plateau and its productivity. It is visible from the plateau to the south of the Qumran settlement. It is by far the most productive of all Qumran caves, producing ninety percent of the Dead Sea Scrolls and scroll fragments (approx. 15,000 fragments from 500 different texts), including 9–10 copies of Jubilees, along with 21 tefillin and 7 mezuzot.

Caves 5 and 6

Caves 5 and 6 were discovered in 1952, shortly after Cave 4. Cave 5 produced approximately 25 manuscripts, while Cave 6 contained fragments of about 31 manuscripts.^[22]

Caves 7–9

Caves 7–9 are unique in that they are the only caves that are accessible only by passing through the settlement at Qumran. Carved into the southern end of the Qumran plateau, archaeologists excavated caves 7–9 in 1957, but did not find many fragments, perhaps due to high levels of erosion that left only the shallow bottoms of the caves.

Cave 7 yielded fewer than 20 fragments of Greek documents, including 7Q2 (the "Letter of Jeremiah" = Baruch 6), 7Q5 (which became the subject of much speculation in later decades), and a Greek copy of a scroll of Enoch.^[23][24][25] Cave 7 also produced several inscribed potsherds and jars.^[26]

Cave 8 produced five fragments: Genesis (8QGen), Psalms (8QPs), a tefillin fragment (8QPhyl), a mezuzah (8QMez), and a hymn (8QHymn).^[27] Cave 8 also produced several tefillin cases, a box of leather objects, lamps, jars, and the sole of a leather shoe.^[26]

Cave 9 produced only small, unidentifiable fragments.

Caves 8 and 9 also yielded several date pits^[26] similar to those discovered by Magen and Peleg to the west of Locus 75 during their "Operation Scroll" excavations.^[28][29]

Cave 10

Cave 10 produced only two ostracons with some writing on them.

Cave 11

Cave 11 was discovered in 1956 and yielded 21 texts, some of which were quite lengthy. The Temple Scroll, so called because more than half of it pertains to the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem, was found in Cave 11, and is by far the longest scroll. It is now 26.7 feet (8.15 m) long. Its original length may have been over 28 feet (8.75 m). The Temple Scroll was regarded by Yigael Yadin as "The Torah According to the Essenes." On the other hand, Hartmut Stegemann, a contemporary and friend of Yadin, believed the scroll was not to be regarded as such, but was a document without exceptional significance. Stegemann notes that it is not mentioned or cited in any known Essene writing.^[30]

Also in Cave 11, an escatological fragment about the biblical figure Melchizedek (11Q13) was found. Cave 11 also produced a copy of Jubilees.

According to former chief editor of the DSS editorial team John Strugnell, there are at least four privately owned scrolls from Cave 11, that have not yet been made available for scholars. Among them is a complete Aramaic manuscript of the Book of Enoch.^[31]

Survey of Scrolls

While many of the Dead Sea Scrolls are small fragments of Biblical, apocryphal, or sectarian manuscripts, some of the scrolls have come to be well known and influential to Second Temple Judaism. The following is a list of the Dead Sea Scrolls from the caves near Qumran:^[20]

Cave 1

• 1QIsa^a ("Great Isaiah Scroll", a copy of the book of "Isaiah")
• 1QIsa^b (a second copy of the book of "Isaiah")
• 1QS ("Serekh ha-Yahad" or "Community Rule") cf. 4QS^a-j = 4Q255-64, 5Q11
• 1QpHab ("Pesher on Habakkuk")
• 1QM ("Milhamah" or "War Scroll") cf. 4Q491, 4Q493; 11Q14?
• 1QH^a ("Hodayot" or "Thanksgiving Hymns")
• 1QapGen ar ("Genesis Apocryphon" in Aramaic)

• CTLevi ar ("Cairo Geniza Testament of Levi" in Aramaic)

• 1QGen ("Genesis") = 1Q1
• 1QExod ("Exodus") = 1Q2
• 1QpaleoLev ("Leviticus" written in palaeo-Hebrew script) = 1Q3
• 1QDeut^a ("Deuteronomy") = 1Q4
• 1QDeut^b ("Deuteronomy") = 1Q5
• 1QJudg ("Judges") = 1Q6
• 1QSam ("Samuel") = 1Q7
• 1QIsa^b (fragments from the 1QIsa^b scroll) = 1Q8
• 1QEzek ("Ezekiel") = 1Q9
• 1QPs^a ("Psalms") = 1Q10
• 1QPs^b ("Psalms") = 1Q11
• 1QPs^c ("Psalms") = 1Q12
• 1QPhyl (58 fragments from a "Phylactery") = 1Q13
• 1QpMic ("Pesher on Micah") = 1Q14
• 1QpZeph ("Pesher on Zephaniah") = 1Q15
• 1QpPs ("Pesher on Psalms") = 1Q16
• 1QJub^a ("Jubilees") = 1Q17
• 1QJub^b ("Jubilees") = 1Q18
• 1QNoah ("Book of Noah") = 1Q19
• 1QapGen ar (fragments from the "Genesis Apocryphon" in Aramaic) = 1Q20
• 1QTLevi ar ("Testament of Levi" in Aramaic) = 1Q21
• 1QDM ("Dibrê Moshe" or "Words of Moses") = 1Q22
• 1QEnGiants^a ar ("Book of Giants" from "Enoch" text in Aramaic) = 1Q23
• 1QEnGiants^b ar ("Book of Giants" from "Enoch" text in Aramaic) = 1Q24
• 1Q25 ("Apocryphal Prophecy")
• 1Q26 ("Instruction")
• 1QMyst ("Mysteries") = 1Q27
• 1Q28 (fragment of the title of "1QS" or "Community Rule")
• 1QS^a ("Rule of the Congregation") = 1Q28a
• 1QS^b ("Rule of the Blessing" or "Rule of the Benedictions") = 1Q28b
• 1Q29 ("Liturgy of the Three Tongues of Fire")
• 1Q30 ("Liturgical Text")
• 1Q31 ("Liturgical Text")
• 1QNJ ar ("New Jerusalem" text in Aramaic) = 1Q32 cf. 11Q18 ar
• 1Q33 (fragment of 1QM or "War Scroll")
• 1QLitPr ("Liturgical Prayers" or "Festival Prayers") = 1Q34
• 1QH^b ("Hodayot" or "Thanksgiving Hymns") = 1Q35
• 1Q36-40 ("Hymnic Composition")
• 1Q41-70 (Unclassified Fragments)
• 1QDan^a ("Daniel") = 1Q71
• 1QDan^b ("Daniel") = 1Q72

Cave 2

• 2QGen ("Genesis") = 2Q1
• 2QExod^a ("Exodus") = 2Q2
• 2QExod^b ("Exodus") = 2Q3
• 2QExod^c ("Exodus") = 2Q4
• 2QpaleoLev (section of "Leviticus" 11:22-29 written in palaeo-Hebrew script) = 2Q5
• 2QNum^a ("Numbers") = 2Q6
• 2QNum^b ("Numbers") = 2Q7
• 2QNum^c ("Numbers") = 2Q8
• 2QNum^d ("Numbers") = 2Q9
• 2QDeut^a ("Deuteronomy") = 2Q10
• 2QDeut^b ("Deuteronomy") = 2Q11
• 2QDeut^c ("Deuteronomy" 10:8-12) = 2Q12
• 2QJer ("Jeremiah") = 2Q13
• 2QPs ("Psalms") = 2Q14
• 2QJob ("Job" 33:28-30) = 2Q15
• 2QRuth^a ("Ruth") = 2Q16
• 2QRuth^b ("Ruth") = 2Q17
• 2QSir ("Wisdom of Sirach" or "Ecclesiasticus") = 2Q18
• 2QJub^a ("Jubilees") = 2Q19
• 2QJub^b ("Jubilees") = 2Q20
• 2QapMoses ("Apocryphon of Moses") = 2Q21
• 2QapDavid? ("Apocryphon of David?") = 2Q22
• 2QapProph ("Apocryphal Prophecy") = 2Q23
• 2QNJ ar ("New Jerusalem" text in Aramaic) = 2Q24 cf. 1Q32 ar, 11Q18 ar
• 2Q25 ("Juridical Text")
• 2QEnGiants ar ("Book of Giants" from "Enoch" in Aramaic) = 2Q26 cf. 6Q8
• 2Q27-33 (unidentified texts)

Cave 3

• 3QEzek ("Ezekiel" 16:31-33) = 3Q1
• 3QPs ("Psalms" 2:6-7) = 3Q2
• 3QLam ("Lamentations") = 3Q3
• 3QpIsa ("Pesher on Isaiah") = 3Q4
• 3QJub ("Jubilees") = 3Q5
• 3QHymn (an unidentified hymn) = 3Q6
• 3QTJudah? ("Testament of Judah"?) = 3Q7 cf. 4Q484, 4Q538
• 3Q8 (fragment of an unidentified text)
• 3Q9 (possible unidentified sectarian text)
• 3Q10-11 (unclassified fragments)
• 3Q12-13 (unclassified Aramaic fragments)
• 3Q14 (unclassified fragments)
• 3QCopper Scroll ("The Copper Scroll") = 3Q15

Cave 4

• 4QGen-Exod^a ("Genesis and Exodus") = 4Q12
• 4QGen^b ("Genesis") = 4Q2
• 4QGen^c ("Genesis") = 4Q3
• 4QGen^d ("Genesis" 1:18-27) = 4Q4
• 4QGen^e ("Genesis") = 4Q5
• 4QGen^f ("Genesis" 48:1-11) = 4Q6
• 4QGen^g ("Genesis") = 4Q7
• 4QGen^h1 ("Genesis" 1:8-10) = 4Q8
• 4QGen^h2 ("Genesis" 2:17-18) = 4Q8a
• 4QGen^h-para (a paraphrase of "Genesis" 12:4-5) = 4Q8b
• 4QGen^h-title (the title of a "Genesis" manuscript) = 4Q8c
• 4QGen^j ("Genesis") = 4Q9
• 4QGen^k ("Genesis") = 4Q10
• 4QpaleoGen-Exod^l ("Genesis and Exodus" written in palaeo-Hebrew script) = 4Q11
• 4QpaleoGen^m ("Genesis" written in palaeo-Hebrew script) = 4Q12
• 4QExod^b ("Exodus") = 4Q13
• 4QExod^c ("Exodus") = 4Q14
• 4QExod^d ("Exodus") = 4Q15
• 4QExod^e ("Exodus" 13:3-5) = 4Q16
• 4QExod-Lev^f ("Exodus and Leviticus") = 4Q17
• 4QExod^g ("Exodus" 14:21-27) = 4Q18
• 4QExod^h ("Exodus" 6:3-6) = 4Q19
• 4QExod^j ("Exodus") = 4Q20
• 4QExod^k ("Exodus" 36:9-10) = 4Q21
• 4QpaleoExod^m ("Exodus" written in palaeo-Hebrew script) = 4Q22
• 4QLev-Num^a ("Leviticus and Numbers") = 4Q23
• 4QLev^b ("Leviticus) = 4Q24
• 4QLev^c ("Leviticus) = 4Q25
• 4QLev^d ("Leviticus) = 4Q26
• 4QLev^e ("Leviticus) = 4Q26a
• 4QLev^g ("Leviticus) = 4Q26b
• 4QNum^b ("Numbers") = 4Q27

• 4QCant^b ("Pesher on Canticles or "Pesher on the Song of Songs) = 4Q107
• 4QCant^c ("Pesher on Canticles or "Pesher on the Song of Songs) = 4Q108
• 4Q112 ("Daniel")
• 4Q123 ("Rewritten Joshua")
• 4Q127 ("Rewritten Exodus")
• 4Q128-148 (various tefillin)
• 4Q156 ("Targum of Leviticus")
• 4Q157 ("Targum of Job") = 4QtgJob
• 4QRP^a ("Rewritten Pentateuch") = 4Q158
• 4Q161-164 ("Pesher on Isaiah")
• 4Q166-167 ("Pesher on Hosea")
• 4Q169 ("Pesher on Nahum")
• 4Q174 ("Florilegium" or "Midrash on the Last Days")
• 4Q175 ("Messianic Anthology" or "Testimonia")
• 4Q179 ("Lamentations") cf. 4Q501
• 4Q196-200 ("Tobit")
• 4Q213-214 ("Aramaic Levi")
• 4Q215 ("Testament of Naphtali")
• 4QCant^a ("Pesher on Canticles or "Pesher on the Song of Songs") = 4Q240
• 4Q246 ("Aramaic Apocalypse) or "the Son of God text"
• 4Q252 ("Pesher on Genesis")
• 4Q258 ("Serekh ha-Yahad" or "Community Rule") cf. 1QS^d
• 4Q265-273 ("CD or "Damascus Document") cf. 4QD^a/g = 4Q266/272, 4QD^a/e = 4Q266/270, 5Q12, 6Q15, 4Q265-73
• 4Q285 ("Rule of War") cf. 11Q14
• 4QRP^b ("Rewritten Pentateuch") = 4Q364
• 4QRP^c ("Rewritten Pentateuch") = 4Q365
• 4QRP^c ("Rewritten Pentateuch") = 4Q365a (=4QTemple?)
• 4QRP^d ("Rewritten Pentateuch") = 4Q366
• 4QRP^e ("Rewritten Pentateuch") = 4Q367
• 4Q415-418 ("Musar leMevin") = 4QInstruction, "Sapiential Work A"
• 4Q422 ("4QParaphrase of Genesis and Exodus")
• 4Q434 ("Barkhi Napshi - Apocryphal Psalms") (15 fragments likely hymns of thanksgiving, praising God for his power and expressing thanks)
• 4QMMT ("Miqsat Ma'ase Ha-Torah" or "MMT" or "Some Precepts of the Law" or the "Halakhic Letter") cf. 4Q394-399
• 4Q400-407 ("Songs of Sabbath Sacrifice" or the "Angelic Liturgy") cf. 11Q5-6
• 4Q448 ("Hymn to King Jonathan")
• 4Q511 ("Songs of the Sage")
• 4Q521 ("Messianic Apocalypse")
• 4Q523 "Kleine Fragmente, z.T. gesetzlichen Inhalts". fragment is legal in content. PAM number, 41.944.^[32]
• 4Q539 ("Testament of Joseph")
• 4Q554-5 ("New Jerusalem") cf. 1Q32, 2Q24, 5Q15, 11Q18

Cave 5

• 5QDeut ("Deuteronomy") = 5Q1
• 5QKgs ("1 Kings") = 5Q2Joshua") = 5Q9
• 5Q10 Apocryphon of Malachi
• 5Q11 Rule of the Community
• 5Q12 Damascus Document
• 5Q13 Rule
• 5Q14 Curses
• 5Q15 New Jerusalem
• 5Q16-25 unclassified
• 5QX1 Leather fragment

Cave 6

• 6QpaleoGen (section of "Genesis" 6:13-21 written in palaeo-Hebrew script) = 6Q1
• 6QpaleoLev (section of "Leviticus" 8:12-13 written in palaeo-Hebrew script) = 6Q2
• 6Q3 Deuteronomy
• 6Q4 Kings
• 6QCant ("Canticles" or "Song of Songs") = 6Q6
• 6Q7 Daniel
• 6QpapEnGiants ("Book of Giants" from "Enoch") = 6Q8
• 6Qpap apSam-Kgs ("Apocryphon on Samuel-Kings") = 6Q9
• 6QpapProph (an unidentified prophetic fragment) = 6Q10
• 6Q11 ("Allegory of the Vine")
• 6QapocProph (an apocryphal prophecy) = 6Q12
• 6QPriestProph ("Priestly Prophecy") = 6Q13
• 6QD ("Damascus Document") = 6Q15
• 6QpapBened ("Benediction") = 6Q16
• 6Q17 Calendrical Document
• 6Q18 Hymn
• 6Q19 Genesis
• 6Q20 Deuteronomy
• 6Q21 Prophetic text?
• 6Q22-6QX2 Unclassified
• 6Q23 ("Words of Michael"; Archangel) cf. 4Q529

Cave 7

• 7QLXXExod (a section of "Exodus" from the Septuagint) = 7Q1
• 7QLXXEpJer ("Letter of Jeremiah" = Baruch 6) = 7Q2
• 7Q3 Biblical Text?
• 7QpapEn gr ("Enoch") = 7Q4, 8, 11-14
• 7Q5 Biblical Text
• 7Q6, 7, 9, 10 unclassified
• 7Q15-18 unclassified
• 7Q19 imprint

Cave 8

• 8QGen ("Genesis") = 8Q1
• 8QPs ("Psalms") = 8Q2
• 8QPhyl (fragments from a "Phylactery") = 8Q3
• 8QMez (portion of "Deuteronomy" 10:12-11:21 from a Mezuzah) = 8Q4
• 8QHymn (a previously unidentified hymn) = 8Q5
• 8QX1 Tabs
• 8QX2-3 Thongs

Cave 9

• 9Qpap (unidentified fragment)

Cave 10

• 10Q1 ostracon

Cave 11

• 11QpaleoLev^a ("Leviticus" written in palaeo-Hebrew script) = 11Q1
• 11QpaleoLev^b ("Leviticus" written in palaeo-Hebrew script) = 11Q2
• 11QDeut ("Deuteronomy") = 11Q3
• 11QEz ("Ezekiel") = 11Q4
• 11QPs^a ("Psalms") = 11Q5
• 11QPs^b ("Psalms") = 11Q6
• 11QPs^c ("Psalms") = 11Q7
• 11QPs^d ("Psalms") = 11Q8
• 11QPs^e ("Psalms") = 11Q9
• 11QtgJob ("Targum of Job") = 11Q10
• 11QapocrPs ("Apocryphal Psalms") = 11Q11
• 11QJub ("Jubilees") = 11Q12
• 11QMelch (see also "Heavenly Prince Melchizedek") = 11Q13
• 11QSM ("Sefer Ha-Milhamah" or "Book Of War") = 11Q14. cf. 1QM?
• 11QHymns^a = 11Q15
• 11QHymns^b = 11Q16
• 11QShirShabb ("Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice") = 11Q17
• 11QNJ ar ("New Jerusalem" text in Aramaic) = 11Q18 cf. 1Q32, 2Q24
• 11QT^a ("Temple Scroll") = 11Q19
• 11QT^b ("Temple Scroll") = 11Q20
• 11Q21 Hebrew text
• 11Q22-28 unclassified
• 11Q29 Serekh ha-Yahad related
• 11Q30 unclassified
• 11Q31 unclassified
• XQ1-4 Phylacteries
• XQ5 fragments
• XQ6 offering

Significance to the Canon of the Bible

The significance of the scrolls relates in a large part to the field of textual criticism and how accurately the Bible has been transcribed over time. Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible were Masoretic texts dating to 10th century CE such as the Aleppo Codex. The biblical manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls push that date back a millennium to the 2nd century BCE. Before this discovery, the earliest extant manuscripts of the Old Testament were in Greek in manuscripts such as Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209 and Codex Sinaiticus.

According to The Oxford Companion to Archaeology:

The biblical manuscripts from Qumran, which include at least fragments from every book of the Old Testament, except perhaps for the Book of Esther, provide a far older cross section of scriptural tradition than that available to scholars before. While some of the Qumran biblical manuscripts are nearly identical to the Masoretic, or traditional, Hebrew text of the Old Testament, some manuscripts of the books of Exodus and Samuel found in Cave Four exhibit dramatic differences in both language and content. In their astonishing range of textual variants, the Qumran biblical discoveries have prompted scholars to reconsider the once-accepted theories of the development of the modern biblical text from only three manuscript families: of the Masoretic text, of the Hebrew original of the Septuagint, and of the Samaritan Pentateuch. It is now becoming increasingly clear that the Old Testament scripture was extremely fluid until its canonization around A.D. 100.^[33]

About 35% of the DSS biblical manuscripts belong to the Masoretic tradition (MT), 5% to the Septuagint family, and 5% to the Samaritan, with the remainder unaligned. The non-aligned fall into two categories, those inconsistent in agreeing with other known types, and those that diverge significantly from all other known readings. The DSS thus form a significant witness to the mutability of biblical texts at this period.^[34] The sectarian texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls, most of which were previously unknown, offer new light on one form of Judaism practiced during the Second Temple period.

Dead Sea Scrolls (books found)

The books ranked according to number of manuscripts found for the top 16 are:^[35]

Book	Number found
Psalms	39
Deuteronomy	33
1 Enoch	25
Genesis	24
Isaiah	22
Jubilees	21
Exodus	18
Leviticus	17
Numbers	11
Minor Prophets	10
Daniel	8
Jeremiah	6
Ezekiel	6
Job	6
1 & 2 Samuel	4

Origin of the Scrolls

There has been much debate about the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The dominant theory remains that the scrolls were the product of a sect of Jews living at nearby Qumran called the Essenes, but this theory has come to be challenged by several modern scholars. The various theories concerning the origin of the scrolls are as follows:

Qumran-Essene Theory

The prevalent view among scholars, almost universally held until the 1990s, is the "Qumran-Essene" hypothesis originally posited by Roland Guérin de Vaux^[36] and Józef Tadeusz Milik,^[37] though independently both Eliezer Sukenik and Butrus Sowmy of St Mark's Monastery connected scrolls with the Essenes well before any excavations at Qumran.^[38] The Qumran-Essene theory holds that the scrolls were written by the Essenes, or perhaps by another Jewish sectarian group, residing at Khirbet Qumran. They composed the scrolls and ultimately hid them in the nearby caves during the Jewish Revolt sometime between 66 and 68 CE. The site of Qumran was destroyed and the scrolls were never recovered by those that placed them there. A number of arguments are used to support this theory.

• There are striking similarities between the description of an initiation ceremony of new members in the Community Rule and descriptions of the Essene initiation ceremony mentioned in the works of Flavius Josephus—a Jewish-Roman historian of the Second Temple Period.
• Josephus mentions the Essenes as sharing property among the members of the community, as does the Community Rule.
• During the excavation of Khirbet Qumran, two inkwells and plastered elements thought to be tables were found, offering evidence that some form of writing was done there. More inkwells were discovered in nearby loci. De Vaux called this area the "scriptorium" based upon this discovery.
• Several Jewish ritual baths (Hebrew: miqvah = מקוה) were discovered at Qumran, which offers evidence of an observant Jewish presence at the site.
• Pliny the Elder (a geographer writing after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE) describes a group of Essenes living in a desert community on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea near the ruined town of 'Ein Gedi.

The Qumran-Essene theory has been the dominant theory since its initial proposal by Roland de Vaux and J.T. Milik. Recently, however, several other scholars have proposed alternative origins of the scrolls.

Qumran-Sectarian Theory

Qumran-Sectarian theories are variations on the Qumran-Essene theory. The main point of departure from the Qumran-Essene theory is hesitation to link the Dead sea Scrolls specifically with the Essenes. Most proponents of the Qumran-Sectarian theory understand a group of Jews living in or near Qumran to be responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls, but do not necessarily conclude that the sectarians are Essenes.

Qumran-Sadducean Theory

A specific variation on the Qumran-Sectarian theory that has gained much recent popularity is the work of Lawrence H. Schiffman, who proposes that the community was led by a group of Zadokite priests (Sadducees).^[39] (This view has also been proposed by numerous Israeli scholars, including Rachel Elior, Moshe Goshen-Gottstein, and Chaim Menachem Rabin). The most important document in support of this view is the "Miqsat Ma'ase Ha-Torah" (4QMMT), which cites purity laws (such as the transfer of impurities) identical to those attributed in rabbinic writings to the Sadducees. 4QMMT also reproduces a festival calendar that follows Sadducee principles for the dating of certain festival days.

Christian Origin Theory

Spanish Jesuit Josep O'Callaghan-Martínez has argued that one fragment (7Q5) preserves a portion of text from the New Testament Gospel of Mark 6:52-53.^[40] In recent years, Robert Eisenman has advanced the theory that some scrolls describe the early Christian community. Eisenman also attempted to relate the career of James the Just and the Apostle Paul / Paul of Tarsus to some of these documents.^[41]

Jerusalem Origin Theory

Some scholars have argued that the scrolls were the product of Jews living in Jerusalem, who hid the scrolls in the caves near Qumran while fleeing from the Romans during the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Karl Heinrich Rengstorf first proposed that the Dead Sea Scrolls originated at the library of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.^[42] Later, Norman Golb suggested that the scrolls were the product of multiple libraries in Jerusalem, and not necessarily the Jerusalem Temple library.^[4][43] Proponents of the Jerusalem Origin theory point to the diversity of thought and handwriting among the scrolls as evidence against a Qumran origin of the scrolls. Several archaeologists have also accepted an origin of the scrolls other than Qumran, including Yizhar Hirschfeld^[44] and most recently Yizhak Magen and Yuval Peleg,^[45] who all understand the remains of Qumran to be those of a Hasmonean fort that was reused during later periods.

Publication

Some of the documents were published early. All the writings in Cave 1 appeared in print between 1950 and 1956, those from eight other caves were released in 1963, and 1965 saw the publication of the Psalms Scroll from Cave 11. Their translations into English soon followed.

Although heralded as one of the great events in modern archaeology, the discovery of the scrolls is not without controversy. All the manuscripts were initially placed under the oversight of a committee of scholars appointed by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities. This responsibility was assumed by the Israel Antiquities Authority after 1967.^[46]

Prior to 1968, most of the known scrolls and fragments were housed in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. After the Six Day War, these scrolls and fragments were moved to the Shrine of the Book, at the Israel Museum.

Publication of the scrolls has taken many decades, and the delay has been a source of academic controversy. As of 2011, one volume remains to be completed, with the whole series, Discoveries in the Judean Desert, running to forty volumes in total. Many of the scrolls are now housed in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, while others are housed in the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University (all of which are located in the U.S.A.), and in the hands of private collectors.

Fragments of the scrolls on display at the Archaeological Museum, Amman

Most of the longer, more complete scrolls were published soon after their discovery. The majority of the scrolls, however, consists of tiny, brittle fragments, which were published at a pace considered by many to be excessively slow. Even more unsettling for some was the fact that access to the unpublished documents was severely limited to the editorial committee. In 1991, researchers at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ben Zion Wacholder and Martin Abegg, announced the creation of a computer program that used previously published scrolls to reconstruct the unpublished texts. Officials at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, led by Head Librarian William Andrew Moffett, announced that they would allow researchers unrestricted access to the library’s complete set of photographs of the scrolls. With their monopoly broken, the officials of the Israel Antiquities Authority agreed to lift their long-standing restrictions on the use of the scrolls.^[46]

In the fall of 1991, Ben Zion Wacholder published 17 documents that had been reconstructed in 1988 from a concordance and had come into the hands of scholars outside of the International Team; in the same month, there occurred the discovery and publication of a complete set of facsimiles of the Cave 4 materials at the Huntington Library, which were not covered by the "secrecy rule".

After further delays, public interest attorney William John Cox undertook representation of an "undisclosed client," who had provided a complete set of the unpublished photographs, and contracted for their publication. Professors Robert Eisenman and James Robinson indexed the photographs and wrote an introduction to A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was published by the Biblical Archaeology Society in 1991.^[47] As a result, the "secrecy rule" was lifted.

Following the publication of the Facsimile Edition, Professor Elisha Qimron sued Hershel Shanks, Eisenman, Robinson and the Biblical Archaeology Society for copyright infringement of one of the scrolls, which he deciphered (MMT). The District Court of Jerusalem found in favor of Qimron in September 1993.^[48] The Court issued a restraining order, which prohibited the publication of the deciphered text, and ordered defendants to pay Qimron NIS 100,000 for infringing his copyright and the right of attribution. Defendants appealed the Supreme Court of Israel, which approved the District Court's decision, in August 2000. The Supreme Court further ordered that the defendants hand over to Qimron all the infringing copies.^[49] The decision met Israeli and international criticism from copyright law scholars.^[50]

Publication accelerated with the appointment of the respected Dutch-Israeli textual scholar Emanuel Tov as editor-in-chief in 1990. Publication of the Cave 4 documents soon commenced, with five volumes in print by 1995. As of March 2009 volume XXXII remains to be completed, with the whole series, Discoveries in the Judean Desert, running to thirty nine volumes in total.

In December 2007, the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation commissioned London publisher Facsimile Editions to publish exact facsimiles^[51] of three scrolls,^[52] The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIs^a), The Order of the Community (1QS), and The Pesher to Habakkuk (1QpHab). Of the first three facsimile sets, one was exhibited at the Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Seoul, South Korea, and a second set was purchased by the British Library in London. A further 25 sets including facsimiles of fragments 4Q175 (Testimonia), 4Q162 (Pesher Isaiah^b) and 4Q109 (Qohelet) were announced in May 2009.

Digital copies

High-resolution images of some of the Dead Sea scrolls are now available online at the Israel Museum's website^[53]. They can also be purchased in inexpensive multi-volumes - on disc media or in book form - or viewed in certain college and university libraries.

According to Computer Weekly (16 November 2007), a team from King's College London is to advise the Israel Antiquities Authority, who are planning to digitize the scrolls. On 27 August 2008 the Israeli Internet news agency YNET announced that the project is under way.^[54] The scrolls are planned to be made available to the public via Internet. The project is to include infrared scanning of the scrolls which is said to expose additional details not revealed under visible light.

The text of nearly all of the non-biblical scrolls has been recorded and tagged for morphology by Dr. Martin Abegg, Jr., the Ben Zion Wacholder Professor of Dead Sea Scroll Studies at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, Canada. It is available on handheld devices through Olive Tree Bible Software - BibleReader, on Macs through Accordance, and on Windows through Logos Bible Software and BibleWorks.

On 19 October 2010, it was announced^[55] that IAA would scan the documents using multi-spectral imaging technology developed by NASA to produce high-resolution images of the texts, and then, through a partnership with Google, make them available online free of charge, on a searchable database and complemented by translation and other scholarly tools. The first images, which according to the announcement could reveal new letters and words,^[55] are expected to be posted online in the few months following the announcement, and the project is scheduled for completion within five years. According to IAA director Pnina Shor, "from the minute all of this will go online there will be no need to expose the scrolls anymore",^[55] referring to the dark, climate-controlled storeroom where the manuscripts are kept when not on display.^[55]

On September 25, 2011, the Digital Dead Sea Scrolls site went online. Google and the Israel Museum teamed up on this project,^[56] allowing users to examine and explore these most ancient manuscripts from Second Temple times at a level of detail never before possible. Developed in partnership with Google, the new website gives users access to searchable, fast-loading, high-resolution images of the scrolls, as well as short explanatory videos and background information on the texts and their history. The Dead Sea Scrolls, which include the oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence, offer critical insight into Jewish society in the Land of Israel during the Second Temple Period, the time of the birth of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. Five complete scrolls from the Israel Museum have been digitized for the project at this stage and are now accessible online.

"We are privileged to house in the Israel Museum's Shrine of the Book the best preserved and most complete Dead Sea Scrolls ever discovered," said James S. Snyder, Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum. "They are of paramount importance among the touchstones of monotheistic world heritage, and they represent unique highlights of our Museum's encyclopedic holdings. Now, through our partnership with Google, we are able to bring these treasures to the broadest possible public."

The five Dead Sea Scrolls that have been digitized thus far include the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll, the Temple Scroll, and the War Scroll, with search queries on Google.com sending users directly to the online scrolls. All five scrolls can be magnified so that users may examine texts in exacting detail. Details invisible to the naked eye are made visible through ultra-high resolution digital photography by photographer Ardon Bar-Hama– at 1,200 mega pixels each, these images are almost two hundred times higher in resolution than those produced by a standard camera. Each picture utilized UV-protected flash tubes with an exposure of 1/4000th of a second to minimize damage to the fragile manuscripts. In addition, the Great Isaiah Scroll may be searched by column, chapter, and verse, and is accompanied by an English translation tool and by an option for users to submit translations of verses in their own languages.,^[56]

"The Dead Sea Scrolls Project with the Israel Museum enriches and preserves an important part of world heritage by making it accessible to all on the internet," said Professor Yossi Matias, Managing Director of Google’s R&D Center in Israel. "Having been involved in similar projects in the past, including the Google Art Project, Yad Vashem Holocaust Collection, and the Prado Museum in Madrid, we have seen how people around the world can enhance their knowledge and understanding of key historical events by accessing documents and collections online. We hope one day to make all existing knowledge in historical archives and collections available to all, including putting additional Dead Sea Scroll documents online."

The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project is funded by George Blumenthal and the Center for Online Judaic Studies, which first envisioned the project in order to make these manuscripts widely accessible and to create an innovative resource for scholars and the public alike. Dr. Adolfo D. Roitman, Lizbeth and George Krupp Curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Head of the Shrine of the Book, and Dr. Susan Hazan, Curator of New Media and Head of the Museum's Internet Office, directed the project for the Israel Museum, working in collaboration with Eyal Fink, Technical Lead, and Eyal Miller, New Business Development Manager, at Google's R&D Center in Israel.

See also

• Ancient Qumran: A Virtual Reality Tour (film)
• Carbon dating the Dead Sea Scrolls
• École Biblique - from which came one of the initial translation teams
• Nag Hammadi library
• Tanakh at Qumran
• Teacher of Righteousness
• The Book of Mysteries
• Ugarit religious documents
• Wicked Priest

References

Notes

1. ^ From papyrus to cyberspace The Guardian August 27, 2008.
2. ^ Bruce, F. F.. "The Last Thirty Years". Story of the Bible. ed. Frederic G. Kenyon. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
3. ^ Ilani, Ofri, "Scholar: The Essenes, Dead Sea Scroll 'authors,' never existed", Ha'aretz, March 13, 2009.
4. ^ ^{a b} Golb, Norman, "On the Jerusalem Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls", University of Chicago Oriental Institute, June 5, 2009.
5. ^ Abegg, Jr., Martin, Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English, San Francisco: Harper, 2002.
6. ^ J. E. Taylor, "Khirbet Qumran in the Nineteenth Century and the Name of the Site." pp. 144–164. Cansdale 2000, especially p. 633 regarding F. de Saulcy.
7. ^ Ullmann-Margalit, Edna, Out of the cave: a philosophical inquiry into the Dead Sea scrolls research, Harvard University Press, 2006, pp.41-43
8. ^ Davies, Philip R., Space and sects in the Qumran scrolls, James W. Flanagan, David M. Gunn, Paula M. McNutt, "Imagining" biblical worlds: studies in spatial, social and historical constructs in honor of James W. Flanagan, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002, p.82
9. ^ Magness, Jodi, Debating Qumran: collected essays on its archaeology, Peeters Publishers, 2004, p.108
10. ^ Magness, Jodi, The archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003, p.44
11. ^ ^{a b} John C. Trever. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Gorgias Press LLC, 2003.
12. ^ ^{a b} "Iron-gall ink was the most important ink in Western history". realscience.breckschool.org. http://realscience.breckschool.org/upper/fruen/files/Enrichmentarticles/files/IronGallInk/IronGallInk.html. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
13. ^ Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2008. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
14. ^ American Jewish Year Book. 1967. p. 308. http://books.google.com/books?id=izA5h1ijQKsC. Retrieved 6 June 2011. 
15. ^ Nisreen El-Shamayleh, "Anger over Dead Sea Scrolls" (video), Al Jazeera, November 3, 2010.
16. ^ Simon McGregor-Wood, "Who Owns the Dead Sea Scrolls?", ABC News, January 14, 2010.
17. ^ Ahmad Khatib, "Jordan wants the Dead Sea Scrolls back from Israel", Agence France-Presse, January 11, 2010.
18. ^ Jordan demands return of Dead Sea Scrolls 'seized' by Israel, Haaretz, January 13, 2010.
19. ^ VanderKam, James C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994. p. 9.
20. ^ ^{a b} Vermes, Geza, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, London: Penguin, 1998. ISBN 0-14-024501-4.
21. ^ ^{a b} VanderKam, James C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009. p. 10.
22. ^ ^{a b} VanderKam, James C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994. pp. 10-11.
23. ^ Baillet, Maurice ed. Les ‘Petites Grottes’ de Qumrân (ed., vol. 3 of Discoveries in the Judean Desert; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962), 144–45, pl. XXX.
24. ^ Muro, Ernest A., “The Greek Fragments of Enoch from Qumran Cave 7 (7Q4, 7Q8, &7Q12 = 7QEn gr = Enoch 103:3–4, 7–8),” Revue de Qumran 18 no. 70 (1997).
25. ^ Puech, Émile, “Sept fragments grecs de la Lettre d’Hénoch (1 Hén 100, 103, 105) dans la grotte 7 de Qumrân (= 7QHén gr),” Revue de Qumran 18 no. 70 (1997).
26. ^ ^{a b c} Humbert and Chambon, Excavations of Khirbet Qumran and Ain Feshkha, 67.
27. ^ Baillet ed. Les ‘Petites Grottes’ de Qumrân (ed.), 147–62, pl. XXXIXXXV.
28. ^ Wexler, Lior ed. Surveys and Excavations of Caves in the Northern Judean Desert (CNJD) - 1993 (‘Atiqot 41; 2 vols.; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2002).
29. ^ Magen, Yizhak and Yuval Peleg, The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report (Judea & Samaria Publications 6; Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2007), 7.
30. ^ Stegemann, Hartmut. "The Qumran Essenes: Local Members of the Main Jewish Union in Late Second Temple Times." Pages 83–166 in The Madrid Qumran Congress: Proceedings of the International Congress on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid, 18–21 March 1991, Edited by J. Trebolle Barrera and L. Vegas Montaner. Vol. 11 of Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Leiden: Brill, 1992.
31. ^ Shanks, Hershel. ""An Interview with John Strugnell", Biblical Achaeology Review, July/August 1994". Bib-arch.org. http://www.bib-arch.org/online-exclusives/dead-sea-scrolls-12.asp. Retrieved 2010-10-21. 
32. ^ Buitenwerf, Rieuwerd, The Gog and Magog Tradition in Revelation 20:8, in, H. J. de Jonge, Johannes Tromp, eds., The book of Ezekiel and its influence, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007, p.172; scheduled to be published in Charlesworth's edition, volume 9
33. ^ Fagan, Brian M., and Charlotte Beck, The Oxford Companion to Archeology, entry on the "Dead sea scrolls", Oxford University Press, 1996.
34. ^ Emanuel Tov, "Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible" (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001 2nd revised edition) ISBN 0-8006-3429-2.
35. ^ Gaster, Theodor H., The Dead Sea Scriptures, Peter Smith Pub Inc., 1976. ISBN=0-8446-6702-1.
36. ^ de Vaux, Roland, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1959). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.
37. ^ Milik, Józef Tadeusz, Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judea, London: SCM, 1959.
38. ^ For Sowmy, see: Trever, John C., The Untold Story of Qumran, (Westwood: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1965), p. 25.
39. ^ Schiffman, Lawrence H., Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: their True Meaning for Judaism and Christianity, Anchor Bible Reference Library (Doubleday) 1995.
40. ^ O'Callaghan-Martínez, Josep, Cartas Cristianas Griegas del Siglo V, Barcelona: E. Balmes, 1963.
41. ^ Eisenman, Robert H. James, the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. 1st American ed. New York: Viking, 1997.
42. ^ Rengstorf, Karl Heinrich. Hirbet Qumran und die Bibliothek vom Toten Meer. Translated by J. R. Wilkie. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1960.
43. ^ Golb, Norman, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret of Qumran, New York: Scribner, 1995.
44. ^ Hirschfeld, Yizhar, Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence, Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004.
45. ^ Magen, Yizhak, and Yuval Peleg, The Qumran Excavations 1993-2004: Preliminary Report, JSP 6 (Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2007) Download.
46. ^ ^{a b} Encyclopædia Britannica article: Dead Sea Scrolls.
47. ^ Eisenman, Robert H. and James Robinson, A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls' in two volumes (Biblical Archaeology Society of Washington, DC, Washington, DC, 1991).
48. ^ Civil Case (Jer) 41/92 Qimron v. Shanks et al (March 30, 1993) [Hebrew].
49. ^ Unofficial translation of CA 2709/93, 2811/93 Eisenman et al v. Qimron (August 30, 2000).
50. ^ Michael D. Birnhack, The Dead Sea Scrolls Case: Who Is an Author? 23 (3) EIPR 128 (2001); Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, Inspiration and Innovation: The Intrinsic Dimension of the Artistic Soul 81 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 1945 (2006); David Nimmer, Authorship and Originality, 38 HOUSTON L. REV. 1, 159 (2001); Urszula Tempska, Originality” after the Dead Sea Scrolls Decision: Implications for the American Law of Copyright, 6 MARQ. INTELL. PROP. L. REV. 119 (2002); Timothy H. Lim, Intellectual Property and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Dead Sea Discoveries Vol 9, No. 2 (2002) p. 187.
51. ^ "The Dead Sea Scrolls - A Limited Facsimile Edition". Facsimile Editions London. http://www.facsimile-editions.com/en/ds. 
52. ^ Rocker, Simon (2007-11-16). "The Dead Sea Scrolls...made in St John’s Wood". The Jewish Chronicle. http://website.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m13s100&AId=56661. Retrieved 2009-02-11. 
53. ^ The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls
54. ^ "The Dead Sea Scrolls Being Exposed". YNET. 2008-08-27. http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3588523,00.html. Retrieved 2008-08-27.  (Hebrew)
55. ^ ^{a b c d} Joseph Krauss (19 October 2010). "Israel to put Dead Sea scrolls online". Yahoo! News/AFP. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101019/tc_afp/israelarchaeologyinternetjudaismcompanygoogle. Retrieved 2010-10-20. 
56. ^ ^{a b} http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/ Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Bibliography

• Abegg, Jr., Martin, Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English, San Francisco: Harper, 2002. ISBN 0-06-060064-0, (contains the biblical portion of the scrolls)
• Abegg, Jr. Martin, James E. Bowley, Edward M. Cook, Emanuel Tov. The Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance, Vol 1."The Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance, Volume 1 - BRILL". Brill.nl. 2007-01-01. http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=18&pid=10612. Retrieved 2010-10-21.  Brill Publishing 2003. ISBN 90-04-12521-3.
• Allegro, John Marco, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth (ISBN 0-7153-7680-2), Westbridge Books, U.K., 1979.*Edward M. Cook, Solving the Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls: New Light on the Bible, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994.
• Berg, Simon. Insights into the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Beginner's Guide, BookSurge Publishing, 2009.
• Boccaccini, Gabriele. Beyond the Essene Hypothesis: The Parting of Ways between Qumran and Enochic Judaism, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
• Charlesworth, James H. "The Theologies of the Dead Sea Scrolls." Pages xv-xxi in The Faith of Qumran: Theology of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by H. Ringgren. New York: Crossroad, 1995.
• Collins, John J., Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls, New York: Routledge, 1997.
• Collins, John J., and Craig A. Evans. Christian Beginnings and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006.
• Cross, Frank Moore, The Ancient Library of Qumran, 3rd ed., Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8006-2807-1
• Davies, A. Powell, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls. (Signet, 1956.)
• Davies, Philip R., George J. Brooke, and Phillip R. Callaway, The Complete World of the Dead Sea Scrolls, London: Thames & Hudson, 2002. ISBN 0-500-05111-9
• de Vaux, Roland, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1959). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.
• Dimant, Devorah, and Uriel Rappaport (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research, Leiden and Jerusalem: E. J. Brill, Magnes Press, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1992.
• Eisenman, Robert H., The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians, Shaftesbury: Element, 1996.
• Eisenman, Robert H., and Michael O. Wise. The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered: The First Complete Translation and Interpretation of 50 Key Documents Withheld for Over 35 Years, Shaftesbury: Element, 1992.
• Eisenman, Robert H. and James Robinson, A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls 2 vol., Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1991.
• Fitzmyer, Joseph A., Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Paulist Press 1992, ISBN 0-8091-3348-2
• Galor, Katharina, Jean-Baptiste Humbert, and Jürgen Zangenberg. Qumran: The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeological Interpretations and Debates: Proceedings of a Conference held at Brown University, November 17–19, 2002, Edited by Florentino García Martínez, Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 57. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
• García-Martinez, Florentino, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English, (Translated from Spanish into English by Wilfred G. E. Watson) (Leiden: E.J.Brill, 1994).
• Gaster, Theodor H., The Dead Sea Scriptures, Peter Smith Pub Inc., 1976. ISBN=0-8446-6702-1
• Golb, Norman, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret of Qumran, New York: Scribner, 1995.
• Golb, Norman, On the Jerusalem Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls, University of Chicago Oriental Institute, June 5, 2009.
• Heline, Theodore, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Age Bible & Philosophy Center, 1957, Reprint edition March 1987, ISBN 0-933963-16-5
• Hirschfeld, Yizhar, Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence, Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004.
• Israeli, Raphael, Piracy in Qumran: The Battle over the Scrolls of the Pre-Christ Era, Transaction Publishers: 2008 ISBN 978-1-4128-0703-6
• Khabbaz, C., "Les manuscrits de la mer Morte et le secret de leurs auteurs",Beirut, 2006. (Ce livre identifie les auteurs des fameux manuscrits de la mer Morte et dévoile leur secret).
• Magen, Yizhak, and Yuval Peleg, The Qumran Excavations 1993-2004: Preliminary Report, JSP 6 (Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2007)Download
• Magen, Yizhak, and Yuval Peleg, "Back to Qumran: Ten years of Excavations and Research, 1993-2004," in The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeological Interpretations and Debates (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 57), Brill, 2006 (pp. 55–116).
• Magness, Jodi, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
• Maier, Johann, The Temple Scroll, [German edition was 1978], (Sheffield:JSOT Press [Supplement 34], 1985).
• Milik, Józef Tadeusz, Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judea, London: SCM, 1959.
• Muro, E. A., "The Greek Fragments of Enoch from Qumran Cave 7 (7Q4, 7Q8, &7Q12 = 7QEn gr = Enoch 103:3-4, 7-8)." Revue de Qumran 18, no. 70 (1997): 307, 12, pl. 1.
• O'Callaghan-Martínez, Josep, Cartas Cristianas Griegas del Siglo V, Barcelona: E. Balmes, 1963.
• Qimron, Elisha, The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Harvard Semitic Studies, 1986. (This is a serious discussion of the Hebrew language of the scrolls.)
• Rengstorf, Karl Heinrich, Hirbet Qumran und die Bibliothek vom Toten Meer, Translated by J. R. Wilkie. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1960.
• Roitman, Adolfo, ed. A Day at Qumran: The Dead Sea Sect and Its Scrolls. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1998.
• Sanders, James A., ed. Dead Sea scrolls: The Psalms scroll of Qumrân Cave 11 (11QPsa), (1965) Oxford, Clarendon Press.
• Schiffman,Lawrence H., Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: their True Meaning for Judaism and Christianity, Anchor Bible Reference Library (Doubleday) 1995, ISBN 0-385-48121-7, (Schiffman has suggested two plausible theories of origin and identity - a Sadducean splinter group, or perhaps an Essene group with Sadducean roots.) Excerpts of this book can be read at COJS: Dead Sea Scrolls.
• Schiffman, Lawrence H., and James C. VanderKam, eds. Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 2 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Shanks, Hershel, The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Vintage Press 1999, ISBN 0-679-78089-0 (recommended introduction to their discovery and history of their scholarship)
• Stegemann, Hartmut. "The Qumran Essenes: Local Members of the Main Jewish Union in Late Second Temple Times." Pages 83–166 in The Madrid Qumran Congress: Proceedings of the International Congress on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid, 18–21 March 1991, Edited by J. Trebolle Barrera and L. Vegas Mountainer. Vol. 11 of Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Leiden: Brill, 1992.
• Thiede, Carsten Peter, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Origins of Christianity, PALGRAVE 2000, ISBN 0-312-29361-5
• Thiering, Barbara, Jesus the Man, New York: Atria, 2006.
• Thiering, Barbara, Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls (ISBN 0-06-067782-1), New York: Harper Collins, 1992
• VanderKam, James C., The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994.
• Vermes, Geza, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, London: Penguin, 1998. ISBN 0-14-024501-4 (good translation, but complete only in the sense that he includes translations of complete texts, but neglects fragmentary scrolls and more especially does not include biblical texts.)
• Wise, Michael O., Martin Abegg, Jr., and Edward Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation, (1996), HarperSanFrancisco paperback 1999, ISBN 0-06-069201-4, (contains the non-biblical portion of the scrolls, including fragments)
• Yadin, Yigael. The Temple Scroll: The Hidden Law of the Dead Sea Sect, New York: Random House, 1985.

Other sources

• Dead Sea Scrolls Study Vol 1: 1Q1-4Q273, Vol. 2: 4Q274-11Q31, (compact disc), Logos Research Systems, Inc., (contains the non-biblical portion of the scrolls with Hebrew and Aramaic transcriptions in parallel with English translations)

External links

• The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls hosted by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
• Shrine of the Book, home of the physical scrolls at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Exhibits and academic projects

• Dead Sea Scrolls facsimile of 1QIs^a 1Qs and 1QpHab, Facsimile-editions.com
• Qumran Visualization Project, UCLA
• Timetable of the Discovery and Debate about the Dead Sea Scrolls, VirtualReligion.net
• The Dead Sea Scrolls Collection at the Gnostic Society Library
• The Dead Sea Scrolls (FARMS), Brigham Young University
• Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit at Azusa Pacific University displays five Dead Sea Scrolls fragments in Azusa, California
• Scrolls From the Dead Sea: The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship at the Library of Congress
• Library of Congress On-line Exhibit, ibiblio.org
• The Dead Sea Scrolls Project at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago features several articles by Norman Golb, some of which take issue with statements made in popular museum exhibits of the Dead Sea Scrolls
  • The Qumran Essene Theory and recent strategies employed in its defense Norman Golb (2007)
• The Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, includes bibliography
• Ancient Treasures and the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Dead Sea Scrolls at the Royal Ontario Museum

Media coverage and academic articles

• Dead Sea Scrolls collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• The Importance of the Discoveries in the Judean Desert Israel Antiquities Authority
• F.F. Bruce, Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls (1956) On-line book (PDF).
• Pesher Technique: Dr. Barbara Thiering's Writings Barbara Thiering's (unconventional) theories connecting the scrolls with the Bible
• The Dead Sea Scrolls as a source on Palestine History of 1st Century AD. Sergey E. Rysev.
• "Jannaeus, His Brother Absalom, and Judah the Essene," Stephen Goranson, on Teacher of Righteousness and Wicked Priest identities.
• "Others and Intra-Jewish Polemic as Reflected in Qumran Texts," Stephen Goranson, evidence that English "Essenes" comes from Greek spellings that come from Hebrew 'osey hatorah, a self-designation in some Qumran texts.
• Introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Archaeology Review
• Searching for the Better Text: How errors crept into the Bible and what can be done to correct them, Biblical Archaeology Review
• The Dead Sea Scrolls and Why They Matter, Biblical Archaeology Review