List of manuscripts from Qumran Cave 11 | |
---|---|
Material | Parchment, leather |
Writing | Hebrew, Aramaic |
Created | Est. 408 BCE to 318 CE |
Discovered | 1956 |
Present location | Qumran |
The following is a list of the Dead Sea Scrolls from the cave 11 near Qumran.
Wadi Qumran Cave 11 was discovered in 1956 and yielded 21 texts of Dead Sea Scrolls, 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. [1]
Also in Cave 11, an eschatological 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·. [2]
Some resources for more complete information on the scrolls are the book by Emanuel Tov, "Revised Lists of the Texts from the Judaean Desert" [3] for a complete list of all of the Dead Sea Scroll texts, as well as the online webpages for the Shrine of the Book [4] and the Leon Levy Collection, [5] both of which present photographs and images of the scrolls and fragments themselves for closer study. Information is not always comprehensive, as content for many scrolls has not yet been fully published.
Fragment or scroll identifier | Fragment or scroll name | Alternative identifier | English Bible Association | Language | Date/script | Description | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Qumran Cave 11 | |||||||
11QpaleoLev a | Paleo-Leviticusa | 11Q1 | Leviticus 4:24–26; 10:4–7; 11:27–32; 13:3–9; 13:39–43; 14:16–21; 14:52–15:5; 16:2–4; 16:34–17:5; 18:27–19:4; 20:1–6; 21:6–11; 22:21–27; 23:22–29; 24:9–14; 25:28–36; 26:17–26; 27:11–19 | Hebrew | Herodian/palaeo-Hebrew script | [5] | |
11QLevb | Leviticusb | 11Q2 | Leviticus | Hebrew | Herodian/palaeo-Hebrew script | [5] | |
11QDeut | Deuteronomy | 11Q3 | Deuteronomy 1:4–5; 2:28–30 | Hebrew | 50 CE Late Herodian | [6] | |
11QEzek | Ezekiel | 11Q4 | Ezekiel | Hebrew | Herodian | [7] [8] | |
11QPs | The Great Psalms Scroll | 11Q5 | Psalms | Hebrew | Herodian | A unique Psalms scroll with only about a quarter of the Masoretic psalms (in atypical order), three Syriac psalms, one from Ben Sira, and the only known copies of three more unique psalms—Plea for Deliverance, Apostrophe to Zion, and Hymn to the Creator—all of which are unattested by other sources, as well as the short text of David's Compositions. | [5] |
11QPsa | Psalms | 11Q5 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | ||
11QPsb | 11Q6 | Psalm 77:18–21; 78:1; 109:3–4; 118:1; 118:15–16; 119:163–165; 133:1–3; 141:10; 144:1–2 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | ||
11QPsc | 11Q7 | Psalm 2:1–8; 9:3–7; 12:5–9; 13:1–6; 14:1–6; 17:9–15; 18:1–12; 19:4–8; 25:2–7 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | ||
11QPsd | 11Q8 | Psalm 6:2–4; 9:3–6; 18:26–29; 18:39–42; 36:13; 37:1–4; 39:13–14; 40:1; 43:1–3; 45:6–8; 59:5–8; 68:1–5; 68:14–18; 78:5–12; 81:4–9; 86:11–14; 115:16–18; 116:1 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | ||
11QPse | 11Q9 | Psalm 50:3–7 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | ||
11QtgJob | Targum Job | 11Q10 | Job | Aramaic | Herodian | A unique Aramaic translation of the Book of Job; presents Job somewhat more favourably. | [5] |
11QapocrPs | Apocryphal Psalms | 11Q11 | Psalm 91 | Hebrew | Herodian | Apocryphal paraphrase of Psalms 91 | [5] |
11QJub | Jubilees | 11Q12 | Hebrew | Herodian | Ethiopic text of Jubilees 4:6–11; 4:13–14; 4:16–17; 4:29–31; 5:1–2; 12:15–17; 12:28–29 | [5] | |
11QMelch | Melchizedek | 11Q13 | Contains Pesher/commentary on Leviticus 25:13; Deuteronomy 15:2; Psalm 7:8–9; 82:2; Isaiah 52:7; Daniel 9:25; Leviticus 25:9 | Hebrew | 50–25 BCE or 75–50 BCE Late Hasmonean or Early Herodian | Describes a tenth jubilee and portrays Melchizedek as a messianic agent of salvation, using similar language to that used for Jesus in Hebrews, such as "Heavenly Prince Melchizedek" | [5] [6] |
11Q Sefer ha-Milhamah | Sefer ha-Milhamah ("The Book of War") | 11Q14 | Hebrew | Herodian | An account of the final eschatological battle of the Israelites and the Kittim (Romans), including a messianic figure named the "Prince of the Congregation." | [5] | |
11QHymnsa | Hymns | 11Q15 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | ||
11QHymnsb | 11Q16 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | |||
11QShirShabb | Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice | 11Q17 | Hebrew | Herodian | Collection of 13 hymns describing a heavenly temple service. | [5] | |
11QNJ | New Jerusalem | 11Q18 | Aramaic | Herodian | Appears to be an apocalyptic vision, including some architectural details of a very large city (cf. Ezekiel and Revelation) | [5] | |
11QTa | Temple Scroll | 11Q19 | Hebrew | Herodian | Rephrases the Pentateuch laws in the spirit of Deuteronomy, seeks to resolve biblical legal conflicts and expand ritual laws. | [5] | |
11QTb | Temple Scroll | 11Q20 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | ||
11QTc | 11Q21 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | |||
11Q Unidentified | Unidentified | 11Q22 | Hebrew | Hasmonean | Unidentified fragments. | [5] | |
11Q23 | Hebrew | Hellenistic-Roman | [5] | ||||
11Q24 | Aramaic | Hasmonean | [5] | ||||
11Q25 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | ||||
11Q26 | Hebrew | Herodian | [5] | ||||
11Q27 | Hebrew | Hellenistic-Roman | [5] | ||||
11Q28 | Hebrew | Hellenistic-Roman | [5] | ||||
11Q29 | Serekh ha-Yahad related | ||||||
11Q Unidentified | Unidentified | 11Q30 | Hebrew | Herodian | Unidentified fragments. | [5] | |
11Q Unidentified | Unidentified | 11Q31 | Unidentified fragment | [9] | |||
11Q9999 | Unidentified | Hellenistic-Roman | [5] |
The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period. They were discovered over a period of 10 years, between 1946 and 1956, at the Qumran Caves near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea. Dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered to be a keystone in the history of archaeology with great historical, religious, and linguistic significance because they include the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books later included in the biblical canons, along with extra-biblical and deuterocanonical manuscripts that preserve evidence of the diversity of religious thought in late Second Temple Judaism. At the same time, they cast new light on the emergence of Christianity and of Rabbinic Judaism. Almost all of the 15,000 scrolls and scroll fragments are held in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum, located in the city of Jerusalem. The Israeli government's custody of the Dead Sea Scrolls is disputed by Jordan and the Palestinian Authority on territorial, legal, and humanitarian grounds — they were mostly discovered following the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank and were acquired by Israel after Jordan lost the 1967 Arab–Israeli War — whilst Israel's claims are primarily based on historical and religious grounds, given their significance in Jewish history and in the heritage of Judaism.
Emanuel Tov, is a Dutch–Israeli biblical scholar and linguist, emeritus J. L. Magnes Professor of Bible Studies in the Department of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has been intimately involved with the Dead Sea Scrolls for many decades, and from 1991, he was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project.
The Judaean Desert or Judean Desert is a desert in the West Bank and Israel that lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. Under the name El-Bariyah, it has been nominated to the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in the State of Palestine, particularly for its monastic ruins.
4Q108 is a fragment containing a portion of the Song of Songs (3:7–8) in Hebrew. Fragments from three such scrolls were found in Cave 4 at Qumran. These, and 6Q6 from Cave 6, estimated from 2nd century BCE, comprise the total witness to the Song from the Dead Sea Scrolls, known so far.
4QMMT, also known as MMT, or the Halakhic Letter, is a reconstructed text from manuscripts that were part of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Qumran in the Judean desert. The manuscripts that were used to reconstruct 4QMMT were found in Cave 4 at Qumran between the years 1953 and 1959. They were kept at the Palestinian Archaeological Museum, now known as the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.
4Q106 is one large and three small fragments from three columns of a scroll containing portions of the Song of Songs in Hebrew. It is one of three scrolls found in Cave 4 at Qumran that have been reconstructed as copies of the Song of Songs. These, and 6Q6 from Cave 6, comprise the total witness to the Song from the Dead Sea Scrolls, known so far.
Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (DJD) is the official 40-volume publication that serves as the editio princeps for the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is published by Oxford University Press.
6Q6 is a small portion of a scroll from Cave 6 at Qumran, containing Song of Songs 1:1-7 in Hebrew. Together with three scroll portions found in Cave 4, they comprise the total witness to the Song from the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is dated to about 50 CE.
Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret Of Qumran is a book by Norman Golb which intensifies the debate over the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls, furthering the opinion that the scrolls were not the work of the Essenes, as other scholars claim, but written in Jerusalem and moved to Qumran in anticipation of the Roman siege in 70 AD.