Tag: Qumran Library

Tefillin Fragment A: height 17.7 cm (7 in.) length 3 cm (1 3/16 in.) Fragment B: height 3.8 cm (1 1/2 in.) length 2.8 cm (1 1/8 in.) Mur 4 Phyl Parchment Copied first century-early second century C.E. Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (3) The command "And thou shalt bind them for a si...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

Miqsat Ma`ase ha-Torah Fragment A: height 8 cm (3 1/8 in.) length 12.9 cm (5 in.) Fragment B: height 4.3 cm (1 11/16 in.) length 7 cm (2 3/4 in.) Fragment C: height 9.1 cm (3 9/16 in.) length 17.4 cm (6 7/8in.) 4Q396(MMTc) Parchment Copied late first century B.C.E.-early first century C.E. Co...

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...

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...

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...

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...