SCROLLS FROM THE DEAD SEA:

THE ANCIENT LIBRARY OF QUMRAN AND MODERN SCHOLARSHIP

The Qumran Library

Scroll Fragments

These scroll fragments were displayed in the exhibit at the

Library of Congress, May - August 1993. They were provided

courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The exhibit

captions and translations (below) provide background on the

fragments and their relationships with the other Dead Sea

Scrolls, the Qumran Community, and its Library.

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Enoch

Hanokh

4Q201(En ar^a)

Parchment

Copied ca. 200-150 B.C.E.

Fragment A: height 17.5 cm (6 7/8 in.), length 17.5 cm (6 7/8 in.)

Fragment B: height 6.4 cm (2 1/2 in.), length 6.9 cm (2 11/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (11)

One of the most important apocryphic works of the Second

Temple Period is Enoch. According to the biblical narrative

(Genesis 5:21-24), Enoch lived only 365 years (far less than the

other patriarchs in the period before the Flood). Enoch "walked

with God; then he was no more for God took him."

The original language of most of this work was, in all

likelihood, Aramaic (an early Semitic language). Although the

original version was lost in antiquity, portions of a Greek

translation were discovered in Egypt and quotations were known

from the Church Fathers. The discovery of the texts from Qumran

Cave 4 has finally provided parts of the Aramaic original. In

the fragment exhibited here, humankind is called on to observe

how unchanging nature follows God's will.

Reference:

Milik, J. T. The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave

4. Oxford, 1976.

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Enoch - Translation

Hanokh

4Q201(En ar^a)

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (11)

En^a I ii

12. ...But you have changed your works,

13. [and have not done according to his command, and

tran]sgressed against him; (and have spoken) haughty and

harsh words, with your impure mouths,

14. [against his majesty, for your heart is hard]. You will have no peace.

En^a I iii

13. [They (the leaders) and all ... of them took for themselves]

14. wives from all that they chose and [they began to cohabit

with them and to defile themselves with them];

15. and to teach them sorcery and [spells and the cutting of

roots; and to acquaint them with herbs.]

16. And they become pregnant by them and bo[re (great) giants

three thousand cubits high ...]

Transcription by J. T. Milik, amended by J. C. Greenfield;

translation by J. C. Greenfield

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Hosea Commentary

Pesher Hoshe`a

4Q166 (4QpHos^a)

Parchment

Copied late first century B.C.E.

Height 17.5 cm (6 7/8 in.), length 16.8 cm (6 5/8 in.)

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (6)

This text is a commentary, or "pesher," on the prophetic

biblical verses from the book of Hosea (2:8-14). The verse

presented here refers to the relation of God, the husband, to

Israel, the unfaithful wife. In the commentary, the unfaithful

ones have been led astray by "the man of the lie." The document

states that the affliction befalling those led astray is famine.

Although this famine could be a metaphor, it may well be a

reference to an actual drought cited in historical sources of

that time.

The manuscript shown here is the larger of two unrelated

fragments of the Hosea Commentary found in Cave 4. The script,

which is identical to that of a commentary on Psalms, belongs to

the rustic, semiformal type of the Herodian era.

References:

Allegro, J. M. Qumran Cave 4: I (4Q158-4Q186). Discoveries in the

Judaean Desert, V. Oxford, 1968.

Horgan, M. Pesharim: Qumran Interpretations of Biblical Books.

Washington, 1979.

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Hosea Commentary - Translation

Pesher Hoshe`a

4Q166 (4QpHos^a)

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (6)

Hos. 2:10-14

Transcription and translation by M. Horgan

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Prayer For King Jonathan

Tefillah li-Shlomo shel Yonatan ha-Melekh

4Q448

Parchment

Copied between 103-76 B.C.E.

Height 17.8 cm (7 in.), length 9.5 cm (3 3/4 in.)

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (2)

The King Jonathan mentioned in this text can be none other

than Alexander Jannaeus, a monarch of the Hasmonean dynasty who

ruled Judea from 103 to 76 B.C.E. The discovery of a prayer for

the welfare of a Hasmonean king among the Qumran texts is

unexpected because the community may have vehemently opposed the

Hasmoneans. They even may have settled in the remote desert to

avoid contact with the Hasmonean authorities and priesthood. If

this is indeed a composition that clashes with Qumran views, it

is a single occurrence among 600 non-biblical manuscripts.

However, scholars are exploring the possibility that

Jonathan-Jannaeus, unlike the other Hasmonean rulers, was favored

by the Dead Sea community, at least during certain periods, and

may explain the prayer's inclusion in the Dead Sea materials.

This text is unique in that it can be clearly dated to the

rule of King Jonathan. Three columns of script are preserved,

one on the top and two below. The upper column (A) and the lower

left (C) column are incomplete. The leather is torn along the

lower third of the right margin. A tab of untanned leather, 2.9

by 2.9 cm, folds over the right edge above the tear. A leather

thong, remains of which were found threaded through the middle of

the leather tab on the right edge, probably tied the rolled-up

scroll. The form of the tab--probably part of a fastening--seems

to indicate that the extant text was at the beginning of the

scroll, which was originally longer. Differences between the

script of Column A and that of B and C could indicate that this

manuscript is not the work of a single scribe.

This small manuscript contains two distinct parts. The

first, column A, presents fragments of a psalm of praise to God.

The second, columns B and C, bear a prayer for the welfare of

King Jonathan and his kingdom. In column A lines 8-10 are

similar to a verse in Psalm 154, preserved in the Psalms Scroll

(11QPsa) exhibited here. This hymn, which was not included in

the biblical Book of Psalms, is familiar, however, from the

tenth-century Syriac Psalter.

Reference:

Eshel, E., H. Eshel, and A. Yardeni. "A Qumran Scroll Containing

Part of Psalm 154 and a Prayer for the Welfare of King

Jonathan and His Kingdom," Israel Exploration Journal,

forthcoming.

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Prayer For King Jonathan - Translation

Tefillah li-Shlomo shel Yonatan ha-Melekh

4Q448

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (2)

Column A

1. Praise the Lord, a Psalm [of

2. You loved as a fa[ther(?)

3. you ruled over [

4. vacat [

5. and your foes were afraid (or: will fear) [

6. ...the heaven [

7. and to the depths of the sea [

8. and upon those who glorify him [

9. the humble from the hand of adversaries [

10. Zion for his habitation, ch[ooses

Transcription and translation by E. Eshel, H. Eshel, and A.

Yardeni

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Leviticus

Va-Yikrah

11Q1(PaleoLev)

Parchment

Copied late second century/early first century B.C.E.

Height 10.9 cm (4 1/4 in.), length 100.2 cm (39 1/2 in.)

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (4)

This scroll was discovered in 1956, when a group of

Ta`amireh Bedouin happened on Cave 11, but it was first unrolled

fourteen years later, at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Inscribed in the scroll are parts of the final chapters (22-27)

of Leviticus, the third book in the Pentateuch, which expounds

laws of sacrifice, atonement, and holiness. This is the

lowermost portion (approximately one-fifth of the original

height) of the final six columns of the original manuscript.

Eighteen small fragments also belong to this scroll. The

additional fragments of this manuscript are from preceding

chapters: Lev. 4, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18-22.

The Leviticus Scroll was written in an ancient Hebrew script

often referred to as paleo-Hebrew. The almost uniform direction

of the downstrokes, sloping to the left, indicates an

experienced, rapid, and rhythmic hand of a single scribe. The

text was penned on the grain side of a sheep skin. Both vertical

and horizontal lines were drawn. The vertical lines aligned the

columns and margins; the horizontal lines served as guidelines

from which the scribe suspended his letters. Dots served as

word-spacers.

Reference:

Freedman, D. N., and K. A. Mathews. The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus

Scroll. Winona Lake, Indiana, 1985.

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Leviticus - Translation

Va-Yikrah

11Q1(PaleoLev)

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (4)

Lev. 23:22-29

1. (22)[...edges of your field, or] gather [the gleanings of

your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the

stranger; I the LO]RD [am]

2. your God.

3. (23)The LORD spoke to Moses saying: (24)Speak to the

Israelite people thus: In the seventh month

4. on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete

rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with load blasts.

5. (25)You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall

bring an offering by fire to the LORD.

6. (26)The LORD spoke to Moses saying: (27)Mark, the tenth day

of this seventh month is the Day

7. of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you

shall practice self-denial, and you shall bring an offering

8. by fire to the LORD; (28)you shall do no work throughout

that day. For

9. [it is a Day of Atonement on which] expiation is made on

your behalf [before the LO]RD your God. (29)Indeed, any

person who

Translation from "Tanakh," p. 192. Philadelphia, 1985.

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Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice

Shirot `Olat ha-Shabbat

4Q403(ShirShabb<superscript>d)

Parchment

Copied mid-first century B.C.E.

Height 18 cm (7 in.), length 19 cm (7 1/2 in.)

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (9)

The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, also known as the

"Angelic Liturgy," is a liturgical work composed of thirteen

separate sections, one for each of the first thirteen Sabbaths of

the year. The songs evoke angelic praise and elaborate on

angelic priesthood, the heavenly temple, and the Sabbath worship

in that temple.

The headings of the various songs may reflect the solar

calendar. Although the songs bear no explicit indication of

their source, the phraseology and terminology of the texts are

very similar to those of other Qumran works.

Eight manuscripts of this work were found in Qumran Cave 4

(4Q400 through 407) and one in Cave 11, dating from the late

Hasmonean and Herodian periods. One manuscript of the Songs of

the Sabbath Sacrifice was found at Masada, a Zealot fortress.

References:

Newsom, C. Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition.

Atlanta, 1985.

Strugnell, J. "The Angelic Liturgy at Qumran--4QSerek Sirot `Olat

Hassabbat." In Congress Volume, Oxford 1959. Supplements to

Vetus Testamentum, vol. 7, pp. 318-45. Leiden, 1960.

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Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice - Translation

Shirot `Olat ha-Shabbat

4Q403(ShirShabb<superscript>d)

Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (9)

Transcription and translation by C. Newsom

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