Tag: Qumran Library

Hanokh 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.) 4Q201(En ara) Parchment Copied ca. 200-150 B.C.E. Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (11) One of the most important apocryphic works of the Second Temp...

1. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947-1956 in 11 caves (5 by Beduin; 6 by archaeologists) on the upper northwest shore of the Dead Sea. The area is 13 miles east of Jerusalem, and is -1300 ft. below sea level (Jerusalem is +2400 ft. above sea level).2. Near the caves are the ancient r...

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 dy...

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...

Serekh ha-Milhamah4Q285 (SM) Parchment Copied early first century C.E. Height 4 cm (1 1/2 in.), length 5 cm (2 in.) Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (12) This six-line fragment, commonly referred to as the "Pierced Messiah" text, is written in a Herodian script of the first half of the f...

The scrolls and scroll fragments recovered in the Qumran environs represent a voluminous body of Jewish documents, a veritable "library", dating from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E. Unquestionably, the "library," which is the greatest manuscript find of the twentieth century, demonstrates the r...

Brit Damesek 4Q271(Df) Parchment Copied late first century B.C.E. Height 10.9 cm (4 1/4 in.), length 9.3 cm (3 5/8 in.) Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (1) The Damascus Document is a collection of rules and instructions reflecting the practices of a sectarian community. It includes tw...

Pesher Hoshe`a 4Q166 (4QpHosa) 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 pres...

Serekh ha-Yahad Height 8.8 cm (3 7/16 in.), length 21.5 cm (8 7/16 in.) 4Q258 (Sd) Parchment Copied late first century B.C.E.Äearly first century C.E. Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (7) Originally known as The Manual of Discipline, the Community Rule contains a set of regulations orde...

Tehillim Psalms (Tehillim) 11QPs Parchment Copied ca. 30 - 50 C.E. Height 18.5 cm (7 1/4 in.), length 86 cm (33 3/4 in.) Courtesy of the Israel Antiquties Authority This impressive scroll is a collection of psalms and hymns, comprising parts of forty-one biblical psalms (chiefly form chapters 101-5...

Shirot `Olat ha-Shabbat 4Q403(ShirShabbd) 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 sepa...

Mishmarot Height 13.4 cm (5 1/4 in.), length 21.1 cm (8 1/4 in.) 4Q321 (Mishmarot Ba) Parchment Copied ca. 50-25 B.C.E. Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (10) A significant feature of the community was its calendar, which was based on a solar system of 364 days, unlike the common Jewish ...