The Dead Sea Scrolls
"…he was wounded for our transgressions…" — the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ) is the oldest substantially complete copy of Isaiah, predating the next-oldest Hebrew manuscript by a thousand years.
Discovered in eleven caves near Qumran by the Dead Sea between 1947 and 1956, the Dead Sea Scrolls are roughly nine hundred manuscripts dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE — by far the oldest surviving Hebrew and Aramaic biblical texts.
CONTENTS & SIGNIFICANCE
- The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ)c. 125 BCE
A complete scroll of Isaiah and the best-preserved biblical manuscript from Qumran.
- The Habakkuk Commentary (1QpHab)c. 1st c. BCE
A pesher interpreting the prophet Habakkuk in light of the community’s own times.
- The Psalms Scroll (11QPsᵃ)c. 1st c. CE
A Psalter arrangement including Psalm 151 and additional Davidic compositions.
- The Genesis Apocryphon (1QGenAp)c. 1st c. BCE
An Aramaic retelling of Genesis that expands the lives of the patriarchs.
Source citation: https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/