An Index of the Passages in the Biblical Manuscripts From the Judean Desert (Genesis-Kings)

Abstract

Lists were considered a category of wisdom in antiquity.' This index, however, makes no claim to wisdom but aims rather at service. Its purpose is to offer, in two parts,2 a complete list of the passages that occur in the manuscripts from the Judean Desert. It is a mark of wisdom not to make excessive claims, and, in fact, this list does not fully achieve its purpose. It is not complete-the editions of the manuscripts from Masada, for example, have not been finalized, though a useful indication of their contents is included. The list is not a complete index of the passages in all the scrolls, but only of those in the scrolls; i.e., citations in non-biblical (e.g., halakhic texts, pesharim, testimonia, florilegia, etc.) are not included. The category of scrolls is also ambiguous: certain unidentified scrolls3 were categorized early as biblical perhaps because, though they were not clearly biblical, there was no category more appropriate. Also categorized as scrolls were MSS which contain only material but are now seen as liturgical containing