Qumran Cave Research Articles

An Analysis of the Codicological Features of the Qumran Cave 11Q Manuscripts

Abstract This article presents analysis and discussion of the codicological features of the scrolls from Cave 11Q. Through a focus on the dimensions and layout of the manuscripts, I ask whether there are noticeable patterns or recurring features which characterise them collectively. I observe that a majority of the preserved scrolls are taller than average and bear long compositions, indicating a well-funded group of scrolls and possibly reflecting an increase in the production of taller scrolls in the Herodian period. I also identify shared characteristics among discrete groups of scrolls from Cave 11Q, which may speak to the practices of schools of professional scribes. Despite these trends and shared characteristics, this study also demonstrates considerable diversity in the codicological features of the Cave 11Q scrolls.

War Traditions from the Qumran Caves: Re-Thinking Textual Stability and Fluidity in the War Text Manuscripts, by Hanna Vanonen

War Traditions from the Qumran Caves: Re-Thinking Textual Stability and Fluidity in the War Text Manuscripts, by Hanna Vanonen

Qumran Cave 4: The Aramaic Books of Enoch, 4Q201, 4Q202, 4Q204, 4Q205, 4Q206, 4Q207, 4Q212 by Henryk Drawnel (review)

Qumran Cave 4: The Aramaic Books of Enoch, 4Q201, 4Q202, 4Q204, 4Q205, 4Q206, 4Q207, 4Q212 by Henryk Drawnel (review)

Overlooked 4Q51 Fragments

Abstract This short note lists the 4Q51 fragments that were excavated from Qumran Cave 4 and proposes that four hitherto unidentified fragments belong to 4Q51.

4Q37 and Excerpted Texts of Deuteronomy from Qumran

Abstract Four manuscripts from Qumran Cave 4 are identified as manuscripts that constitute a collection of excerpts from Deuteronomy: 4Q37, 4Q38, 4Q41, and 4Q44. This paper focuses on 4Q37 and its contribution to understanding the larger group of Deuteronomy-excerpted texts. Based on material reconstruction of the scroll, the paper confirms that it originally included excerpts from both Deuteronomy and Exodus. This conclusion establishes the existence of a repertoire of scriptural sections that were selected and cited in special-use—probably liturgical—texts. The broader implications for the reception history of the Pentateuch in Second Temple times is that the Pentateuch was not conceptualized solely as a legal code or intellectual text but also as a text that was used in liturgy.

A Dead Sea Scrolls fragment with the name of Aristobulus

A tiny Qumran Cave 4 fragment (IAA Plate 76 frag. 15) preserves the oldest transliteration in Hebrew letters of the name Aristobulus. The fragment probably derives from a historical record describing events around the Roman conquest, and the use of the Greek name for Aristobulus II agrees with the thesis that he did not have a Hebrew name.

Qumran Caves in Context: Lamps Q43 and Q44 from Cave 1Q as a Case Study

Qumran Caves in Context: Lamps Q43 and Q44 from Cave 1Q as a Case Study

Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT Use: Qumran

Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT UseQumran Christopher T. Begg, Brian J. Meldrum, and Thomas Hieke 2382. [The DSS and Qumran Connection] Kenneth Atkinson, "Are the Dead Sea Scrolls from Khirbet Qumran?" QC 28-29 (2020-2021) 35-59 [see #2498]. A. discusses his title question—to which he gives a largely negative answer—under four headings: (1) The Nature of the Collection; (2) The Qumran Caves and Their Connection with Khirbet Qumran's Occupational Phases; (3) The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Library of Various Sectarian Communities; and (4) Are the Dead Sea Scrolls from Khirbet Qumran? In the course of his discussion, A. highlights what he sees as problematic scholarly uses of the Qumran materials, e.g., the distinction between "sectarian" and "non-sectarian" scrolls, and the attempt to reconstruct a "master text" of a given document, e.g., the Community Rule, by conflating elements from different copies of the document deriving from different caves and dating to different times. He concludes (pp. 58-59, adapted): The size of the DSS collection is unprecedented for an ancient library. Although there is a scribal focus to the collection, the presence of multiple copies of texts of different dates suggests that the Scrolls emanated from several communities. Khirbet Qumran appears to have been the location where a small number of residents practiced a form of animal sacrifice in relative isolation. Those who lived there had some relationship with earlier like-minded groups and shared many of the same writings. Each group, as evident in the multiple recensions of texts such as the Community Rule, shared certain documents, but interpreted them differently. Each was undoubtedly influenced by different historical experiences or understood the impact of their experiences differently. Because the scrolls are not from Khirbet Qumran, the site was likely not the center for a group of related sectarian communities. Nor was it the site of original thinking: most theological developments can be traced to the pre-Maccabean era. Because relatively few scrolls were produced in the period between 63 b.c.e. (the Roman conquest of Judea) and 68 c.e. (the Roman destruction of the Qumran site), the Scrolls communities seem to have largely died out during this period. Khirbet Qumran appears to have merely been the place where those who lived elsewhere but shared a similar ideology with its residents hid the contents of their libraries in the hope of retrieving them after the expected defeat [End Page 883] of the invading Roman army. Were it not for the tragic events of the First Jewish Revolt, relatively few scrolls would have been found at or near Khirbet Qumran.—C.T.B. 2383. [1QS] Melissa Sayyad Bach, "How Hard Is It to Get into the Community Rule? Exploring Transmission in 1QS from the Perspective of the Modes of Religiosity," SJOT 35 (2, 2021) 159-86. The Community Rule from Qumran (1QS) communicates its message to its recipients by employing a variety of genres (e.g., instructions, rules, rituals, myth, hymns). B.'s article attempts to explore some of the underlying cognitive mechanisms involved in the process of transmission by drawing on insights from cognitive science, Harvey White-house's Modes of Religiosity theory in particular. According to this approach, certain religious ideas and concepts are "cognitively optimal" (i.e., relatively simple and straightforward, often minimally counterintuitive) and therefore easy to remember, while others are "cognitively costly" (i.e., requiring greater conscious effort to be preserved and transmitted). Two different "modes" are the typical ways to preserve and transmit such contents: The "imagistic" mode relies on low-frequency and high-arousal rituals, whereas the "doctrinal" mode is associated with high-frequency and low-arousal rituals. Its use of different genres, each of which sheds light on 1QS's agenda, serves to highlight the costly and demanding nature of the 1QS content. Analyses of selected passages from 1QS show how elements of the doctrinal and the imagistic modes are employed in facilitating the transmission of the content. [Adapted from published abstract—B.J.M.] 2384. [DSS Research in Oxford] Markus Bockmuehl, "Introduction: Dead Sea Scrolls Research in Oxford," RevQ 32 (2, 2020) 165-69. In his capacity...

Qumran Cave 4: The Aramaic Books of Enoch: 4Q201, 4Q202, 4Q204, 4Q205, 4Q206, 4Q207, 4Q212, by Henryk Drawnel in consultation with Émile Puech

Qumran Cave 4: The Aramaic Books of Enoch: 4Q201, 4Q202, 4Q204, 4Q205, 4Q206, 4Q207, 4Q212, by Henryk Drawnel in consultation with Émile Puech

Defining multiple inhabitations of a cave environment using interdisciplinary archaeometry: the \u2018Christmas Cave\u2019 of the Wadi en-Nar/Nahal Qidron, West of the Dead Sea

The present study reports a series of interdisciplinary archaeometrical analyses of objects found in the Christmas Cave, which was discovered by John Allegro and his team in 1960 on the West Bank of the Dead Sea and assumed to be inhabited only in the Chalcolithic era and by Jewish refugees of the second century CE, at the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Like many other Judaean desert caves, there was an abundance of organic material, especially textiles, surviving in the dry environment. In the absence of clear stratigraphy and even a proper publication of the finds, the present study shows how archaeometry can provide important insights. We analysed food crusts on ceramics by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC–MS), made petrographic descriptions to estimated provenance of the ceramics, produced new radiocarbon dates from organic material and thermoluminescence (TL) dates from the pottery. It appears from the data that the Christmas Cave has been briefly inhabited or visited intermittently over a very long time, starting ca. 4000 BCE (the Chalcolithic period), and extending all the way to the Medieval period, even though there is also a concentration of dates near the period of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–136 CE). We argue, through a detailed analysis of the radiometric and TL-datings and by the artefactual evidence, that there was likely another refuge episode connected with the First Jewish Revolt during which people fled to this cave. However, we see no material connection to Qumran and nearby caves. Overall, our study demonstrates the importance of archaeometric studies in cave environments where stratigraphy is veritably absent.

How the “Jerusalem Scrolls” Became the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran Cave 1: Archaeology, the Antiquities Market, and the Spaces In Between

AbstractSeven animal hide scrolls with Hebrew and Aramaic writing were sold in Jerusalem in 1947. Additional smaller fragments of similar scrolls were sold from 1948 to 1950. Within a few years of their appearance, these “Jerusalem Scrolls” as they were then known, became “the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran Cave 1.” While this change of names may seem trivial, it glosses over some difficult questions about the provenance of these materials. What we now call “Cave 1Q” or “Qumran Cave 1” was excavated in 1949, but scholarship reveals considerable confusion concerning which purchased scrolls can be materially connected to fragments that were excavated by archaeologists under controlled conditions in Cave 1. Furthermore, Cave 1 is often treated as if it was a sealed context rather than the highly contaminated site that it actually was at the time of its excavation by archaeologists. For these reasons, it is not completely clear whether all the scrolls usually assigned to Cave 1 actually originated at this site. This article is an attempt to sort through the evidence to determine exactly which scrolls and fragments attributed to Cave 1 were purchased, when and from whom such pieces were purchased, and what can actually be known with confidence about the connection of these “Jerusalem Scrolls” with the site we now call Qumran Cave 1.

Apokrifni Psalmi 152-155 - uvod i prevod

Apocryphal Psalms 152-155 are preserved in the Syriac language. They have been known in the Western world since the 18th century, when the Syriac text was published for the first time. They have been translated into English in the 19th century, and in German and French in the 20th century. Since the middle of the 20th century - since the discovery of manuscripts in the Qumran caves, more attention has been paid to them because Psalm 154-155 were found in Hebrew. This discovery leads to additional comparisons and analyzes of those psalms preserved in Syriac and those newly found in Hebrew. An attention is also focused on Psalms 152-153 with the aim of examining whether they also have the basis on a Hebrew Vorlage. In this paper, the author presents the hypotheses presented by researchers of Psalms 152-155 concerning their origin, as well as how they are viewed today and points to possible topic that researchers could deal with in the future. At the end of the paper, the author brings a translation of the psalms into Serbian from the Syriac language.

НАСЛЕДИЕ А.Б. РАНОВИЧА В КОНТЕКСТЕ ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ГОСУДАРСТВА ХАСМОНЕЕВ

This article examines the views of A.B. Ranovich, a prominent Soviet historian of antique civilizations, on the Hasmonean state by analyzing his works through the lens of the epoch and, simultaneously, as opposing Soviet and “bourgeois” history. This approach opens up new perspectives for the interpretation of how the scholar turned his attention from Christianity to Hellenism. A possible explanation may be that the first scholarly quest for the historical Jesus and the Christ myth theory, promoted by A.B. Ranovich in particular, led their adherents to a deadlock. They finally broke through it with the discovery of the Qumran Caves Scrolls (1948) and the development of new methods of studying the early Christian texts, i.e., after the death of A.B. Ranovich. It is of peculiar interest to get an insight into what thoughts A.B. Ranovich had about E. Bickerman and V. Cherikover’s works because they all had a similar pre-revolutionary experience (Jewish background, traditional Jewish lifestyle in families, secular education, and membership in the academic community). The analysis shows that A.B. Ranovich was critical of “bourgeois” historians and refused their approach to studying Jewish history. However, this made him focus on the socio-economic features of the Hasmonean state and thus he proved that the Hellenistic states encouraged slavery. A.B. Ranovich’s work “Hellenism and Its Historical Role” testifies to his unique concern about the history of the Jews, although it was outwardly shunned. The conclusion is made that A.B. Ranovich preferred not to publicly identify and portray himself as a Jewish historian, but his reasoning, regardless of the numerous ideological clichés and constructs, was built on the Jewish traditions that he knew.

Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT Use: Qumran

Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT UseQumran Christopher T. Begg, Ian T. Kinman, Gregory Y. Glazov, William J. Urbrock, and Fred W. Guyette 698. [4QFlorilegium; yaḥad] Christopher S. Atkins, "The YAHAD as the Locus of Divine Presence: On 4QFlorilegium's Divinatory Hermeneutics," RevQ 31 (2019) 209-38. A.'s paper offers a fresh analysis of the hermeneutics of 4Q174 (Florilegium). There is no currently satisfactory consensus on the organizing principle that holds the document together as a coherent whole, or whether there is such an organizing principle. The oft-cited view that the theme of the document is eschatology or "the latter days" (ʾḥryt hymym) is not satisfactory, since it is too broad to have interpretive value. Accordingly, a reevaluation of 4QFlor is needed. Beginning with the initial unit 4QFlor 11-13, I make the case that the polemical interpretive enterprise featured in the document revolves around the authenticating presence of God in the yaḥad in the unfolding eschatological drama and that the creative contribution of 4QFlor is its defense of the yaḥad as the locus of divine presence. 4QFlor, in my view, stems from reflection on the yaḥad's typologically exilic experience and witnesses to the community's polemic against the Jerusalem temple cult. The interpretive approach taken in the document is functionally divinatory and formally deictic. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 699. [DSS; Isaac] George J. Brooke, "Further Thoughts on Isaac in the Scrolls from the Qumran Caves," Reading the Bible in Ancient Traditions, 381-99 [see #793]. In this essay, B. continues work on the role of Isaac in Qumran literature done by Heinz-Josef Fabry, noting Isaac's limited role in that literature, compared with the other patriarchs Abraham and Jacob. B. outlines specific accounts, explicit mentions, and possible allusions to Isaac in the Qumran literature, noting that his character is mostly underdeveloped, though not entirely hidden by the texts. B. points out one interesting feature of the Isaac traditions in these texts, namely, his possible description as a founder of the Levitical priesthood in Jubilees and Pseudo-Jubilees literature, dating from the 2nd cent. b.c.e., though this understanding is absent in the more sectarian, and later, texts from Qumran.—I.T.K. 700. [Pesharim] George J. Brooke, "Textual Plurality in the Pesharim," RevQ 30 (2018) 143-57. Assuming the pesharim to be the sole unduplicated textual genre at Qumran, F. M. Cross inferred that they were handwritten by their authors. Noting that the nature of the pesharim, as the fruit of skill and imagination, problematizes this assumption, B. formulates [End Page 242] four reasons for questioning Cross's supposition about their status as autographs: (1) the lemmata and comments in the pesharim suggest ongoing awareness of textual pluralism in the base text; (2) some of the pesharim and other exegetical works display diachronic plurality; (3) synchronic plurality in the same base text could generate more than one commentary; and (4) the evidence of multiple commentaries on Isaiah, Hosea, and the Psalms. The wide range of forms of commentary and exegetical technique in the pesharim highlights the value given to ongoing exegesis of texts as opposed to the recapitulation of fixed exegetical tropes determined once and for all by some community leader.—G.Y.G. 701. [DSS; Torah] John J. Collins, "Torah as Narrative and Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls," Reading the Bible in Ancient Traditions, 357-79 [see #793]. C. focuses on two groups of texts that rely on specific older scriptures, namely, the Torah, or their related traditions, and that are not reflective of halakic concerns. The first group are Aramaic texts from Qumran, such as the Book of the Watchers, the Genesis Apocryphon, and the Aramaic Levi Document. The second group is previously unknown DSS Hebrew wisdom texts, which offer new opportunities for noting developing relationships between wisdom and the Torah. C. points out that while halakic issues are the primary concern in the engagement with the Torah in texts from this era, the texts of his study demonstrate (p. 373) "the looser and more creative uses of scripture … [that] would continue to be a very large part...

The Prophets

The Prophets Fred W. Guyette, Christopher T. Begg, and Thomas Hieke 857. [Prophets as Performers] Jeanette Mathews, Prophets as Performers: Biblical Performance Criticism and Israel's Prophets (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2020). Pp. viii + 247. $31. ISBN 978-1-5326-8552-1. The prophetic performances described in this book include acts of truth-telling, direct challenge, behind-the-scenes civil disobedience, miraculous acts of compassion, disturbance of the peace, silent protest, creative and provocative artistic installments, confrontational street theater, and mystic visions. Three case studies are presented: Elijah, Ezekiel, and Jonah. M. has written a number of short scripts for each of them, with stage directions, prop suggestions, scenes with dialog and a narrator who provides biblical background for the audience. Elijah appears out of nowhere as a man called by Yhwh. He encounters a poor widow and her son who have been on the point of starving to death and performs a miracle that keeps them alive. It is a sign that God cares about the poor in the land, while Israel's monarchy clearly does not. Then we hear about Elijah's conflict with Jezebel on Mt. Carmel and his confrontation with Ahab in the matter of Naboth's vineyard. In the second case study, Ezekiel has suffered through the trauma of the Babylonian invasion, the fall of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the Temple. In the script M. has written for Ezekiel, he struggles to describe the visions of God he has seen while in exile. In the third case study, the actor who plays Jonah tries to explain to the sailors in the storm-tossed ship why God has sent this storm—it is because Jonah is trying to flee from the task God has given him. In the next scene Jonah prays from the belly of the fish that God has sent to swallow him up and take him all the way to Nineveh. After Jonah preaches the shortest sermon on record, [End Page 306] the audience hears from the king of that wicked city how they all repented and turned to the Lord. In the final scene, there is a dialog in which Jonah tells God how angry he is for God's showing mercy to his enemies. For more on this approach to Scripture, see Dwight Conquergood, "Performance Studies: Interventions and Radical Research," The Drama Review 46 (2002) 145-56, and Peter Perry, "Biblical Performance Criticism: Survey and Prospects," Religions 10 (2, 2019) 117-32.—F.W.G. 858. [Isaiah] James Charlesworth (ed.), The Unperceived Continuity of Isaiah (Jewish and Christian Texts 28; New York: Bloomsbury, 2019). Pp. xiv + 236. $100. ISBN 978-0-5676-8424-0. From August 23 to 26, 2015, scholars from China, Australia, the United States, Poland, and Israel met in Jerusalem to discuss the composition of Isaiah. They focused on the following questions: "Does the Book of Isaiah represent the thoughts of the eighth century b.c.e. or does it reflect additions and insertions that take us down to the third century b.c.e., and has Isaiah been exceptionally influential on the Dead Sea Scrolls, John the Baptizer, Jesus, Paul, the Evangelists, on through Jewish and Christian liturgies until today?" Is there an unperceived continuity of Isaiah or is Isaiah a seamless book that reflects the career of the eighth-century prophet? Any additions and expansions or divisions would not be apparent in the Isaiah Scrolls found in the Qumran Caves, since the evolution of the text would have been completed before 150 b.c.e. For abstracts of the individual essays see ##575, 577, 578, 584, 586, 594, 597, 735, 740. [Adapted from published abstract—F.W.G.] 859. [Isaiah; Advent; Jewish Neighbors] Tyler D. Mayfield (with a foreword by Walter Brueggemann), Unto Us a Child Is Born: Isaiah, Advent, and Our Jewish Neighbors (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020). Pp. xvi + 192. Paper $19. ISBN 978-0-8026-7398-9. In the section entitled "How to Read This Book" of his introduction, M. provides (pp. 10-11) this statement about the book's content: "Part One of this book introduces a bifocal way of reading the Book of Isaiah...

The Community Rule: A Critical Edition with Translation by Sarianna Metso

Reviewed by: The Community Rule: A Critical Edition with Translation by Sarianna Metso James M. Tucker sarianna metso, The Community Rule: A Critical Edition with Translation (EJL 51; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2019). Pp. x + 60. $49. In this volume, Sarianna Metso provides a new critical edition of the Qumran Community Rule manuscripts. Under the rubric of the Community Rule, the author includes fourteen manuscripts: 1QS, 1Q29a, 4QpapSa, 4QSb, 4QpapSc, 4QSd, 4QSe, 4QSf, 4QSg, 4QSh, 4QSi, 4QSj, 5QS, and 11QFragment related to Serekh ha-Yaḥad. In addition to new transcriptions of these manuscripts and fragmentary remains, M. provides a textual apparatus, textual notes, and an English translation. The presentation of the manuscripts takes as its starting point the editorial methods of the Hebrew Bible Critical Edition series (HBCE). The volume contains an introduction, bibliography, and Hebrew text with English translation. In the introduction, M. introduces her editorial method and offers a brief history of the discovery and a physical description of the Community Rule manuscripts; theoretical and methodological considerations; and the layout of the volume. As part of a rationale for a new edition, M. draws from the editorial method of the Hebrew Bible Critical Edition series (general editor Ronald Hendel, 2016). She clearly articulates her objective, namely, “to present an archetype” of the Community Rule. An “archetype” is “the latest attainable version of the text behind the existing manuscripts witnesses” (p. 1). The application of the word “critical” modifies the textual presentation, insofar as the Hebrew text is not extant in any single Community Rule manuscript. The reader, however, should be aware that there are equally valid editorial methods apart from the HBCE editorial principles. There have been significant developments, for example, in the fields of digital humanities, scholarly digital editions, and material philology that present significant challenges to the binaries made between a diplomatic text and critical text presentation. Tara L. Andrews, in her essay, “The Third Way: Philology and Critical Edition in the Digital Era” (Journal of the European Society for Textual Scholarship 10 [2013] 61–76) highlights how a digital medium circumvents the type of editorial decisions of the traditional methods of an archetype theory (e.g., HBCE) or diplomatic theory (BHS, Biblia Hebraica Quinta, or the Hebrew University Bible Project). In other words, many of the editorial decisions discussed by M. are reflective of the medium of a print edition—along with its limitations. According to the author, the apparatus helps the reader to see the development of the [End Page 128] text, since scribes creatively contributed to the development of the tradition. For M., the manuscript of “1QS alone makes it clear that its text is an amalgamation of disparate passages most likely originating from a variety of sources” (p. 2). The Cave 4, 5, and 11 fragmentary manuscripts further attest to a heterogeneous character of the tradition. In addition to manuscript variants, the apparatus contains brief notes on paleographical issues and/or differences of transcriptions in contrast to the author’s previous work; Elisha Qimron’s editions (The Scrolls of the Judaean Desert [Hebrew] [Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 2010]), and Phillip Alexander and Geza Vermes’s edition of the Cave 4 and 5 manuscripts in Qumran Cave 4.XIX: Serekh Ha-Yaḥad and Two Related Texts (DJD 26; Oxford: Clarendon, 1998). Under the heading of “Theoretical and Methodological Considerations,” M. alerts the reader to some lingering issues pertaining to how previous editors classified some of the Cave 1, 4, and 5 manuscripts (pp. 6–7). The issues revolve around the fragmentary nature of the manuscripts, appropriation of scholarly categories, and matters of presenting the Hebrew text of the Community Rule. Since some of the Cave 4 and 5 manuscripts present “variant editions” (p. 7), M. decided to present the Hebrew text and translation in a column format (see, e.g., pp. 26–37, 42–53). The two-column format presents 1QS adjacent to 4QSb and 4QSd, albeit with a single apparatus for both columns. In addition to an apparatus, M. provides a summary of the extant manuscripts just above the apparatus. The summary provides a list of the extant...

Reconsidering 4Q24 (4QLeviticusb): Two Manuscripts and a New Fragment

Abstract The different scribal hands show that the Qumran Cave 4 manuscript 4Q24 (4QLevb) actually consists of two different manuscripts: a first-century BCE manuscript with parts of Leviticus 1–3 (4Q24a), and a second-century BCE manuscript (4Q24b) with sections of Leviticus 21–25. Two hitherto unidentified fragments are assigned to Lev 25:44–46 in 4Q24b.

Illuminating Genetic Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The discovery of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls had an incomparable impact on the historical understanding of Judaism and Christianity. "Piecing together" scroll fragments is like solving jigsaw puzzles with an unknown number of missing parts. We used the fact that most scrolls are made from animal skins to "fingerprint" pieces based on DNA sequences. Genetic sorting of the scrolls illuminates their textual relationship and historical significance. Disambiguating the contested relationship between Jeremiah fragments supplies evidence that some scrolls were brought to the Qumran caves from elsewhere; significantly, they demonstrate that divergent versions of Jeremiah circulated in parallel throughout Israel (ancient Judea). Similarly, patterns discovered in non-biblical scrolls, particularly the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, suggest that the Qumran scrolls represent the broader cultural milieu of the period. Finally, genetic analysis divorces debated fragments from the Qumran scrolls. Our study demonstrates that interdisciplinary approaches enrich the scholar's toolkit.

A Qumran Cave 4 Fragment with Psalm 41:10–11 (4Q98h = 4QPsy)

Abstract PAM 43.680 frag. 46 provides the first textual evidence of a manuscript with Psalm 41 among the Qumran scrolls and offers an additional example of stichometrically arranged psalms with one-colon lines.

Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT Use: Qumran

Intertestamental, Apocrypha, NT UseQumran Christopher T. Begg and Joseph E. Jensen 1499. [Psalm 151 (11Q5)] Marcin Biegas, "Postac Dawida w hebrajskiej wersji Psalmu 151 (11Q5) [The Figure of David in the Hebrew Version of Psalm 151]," BibAn 8 (2018) 5-28. Until the discovery of the DSS, Psalm 151 was known only through its Greek and Latin versions as these appear in the LXX and Vulgate Book of Psalms. In addition, a Syriac translation of the psalm that was included in a tenth cent. a.d. collection of Apocryphal Psalms was known as well. In 1965, James Sanders published the Psalms Scroll (11Q5), a collection of mostly Hebrew psalms with counterparts in the MT Psalter, discovered in Qumran Cave 11, that also included a Hebrew text of Psalm 151. This article focuses on the figure of David as depicted in Psalm 151, which retells, in poetic form, the story of the son of Jesse as related in 1 Samuel 16–17. B. divides his article into two parts: In the first, he discusses the Psalms Scroll in general and reviews the scholarly discussion concerning Psalm 151 in particular. The second part provides the Hebrew text of the psalm along with [End Page 512] a Polish translation of this and linguistic, syntactical, and theological remarks concerning it. [Adapted from published abstract] 1500. [DSS] Lutz Doering, "Law and Lawlessness in Texts from Qumran," Law and Lawlessness, 9-28 [see #1560]. In his essay, D. examines the centrality of law-abidance in the documents from Qumran, arguing that on the whole the texts display a general ethos of law-abidance and a similar conceptualization of sin and transgression. The Qumran documents do not understand the term "lawlessness" in the sense of an exemption from the law for the sectarians; rather, lawlessness is taken as a matter of disregard for, or disobedience to the law on the part of (other) Israelites. As such, the term occurs mostly in three connections in the Scrolls: first as the historic lawlessness of Israel, from which those seeking initiation into the Qumran group had to return to the Torah of Moses; second, as a (re)lapse of group members or initiates into various kinds of lawlessness; and third, as the present lawlessness of others, such as those whose practices are guided by a "wrong" calendar, a corrupt legal tradition, or a faulty understanding of the Torah. [Adapted from published abstract] 1501. [Zion Psalm from Wadi Murabba>at] Ariel Feldman, "An Overlooked Psalm Addressing Zion from Wadi Murabba>at," JBL 138 (2019) 365-76. This note revisits a psalm addressing Zion Mur 6, a scroll found in the caves of Wadi Murabba>at. It offers a revised edition of the psalm based on recent infrared images and attempts to situate it within the wider group of Second Temple texts addressing Jerusalem. [Adapted from published abstract] 1502. [DSS; Prophetic Books] Simone Pagani, "Biblische Prophetie in der Bibliothek am Toten Meer. Einige Beobachtungen zu den Prophetenschriften in den Dead Sea Scrolls," Profeti Maggiori e Minori, 25-36 [see #1625]. P.'s short article begins with summary comments on the Qumran site, its (non-Essene) inhabitants, and the DSS as a whole. It then focuses on the corpus of 44 manuscripts—many of them quite fragmentary—containing portions of the Latter Prophets of the Hebrew Bible. Here P provides information concerning the DSS witnesses to the Books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve, and their textual character (proto-MT, proto-LXX, "unaligned") represented by these. He concludes with three theses concerning, respectively, the relationship between the MT and the DSS text of the Prophetic Books, the Twelve Prophets as a collection in the DSS witnesses, and the importance of prophecy in Second Temple Judaism vis-à-vis the relative "unimportance" of the prophetic books themselves as suggested by the above-mentioned fact that among the some 1,000 manuscripts recovered from the Judean Desert area only 44 are of the Latter Prophets of the Hebrew Bible. 1503. [DSS; Genesis 12–50] Marek Parchem, "Księga Rodzaju 12–50 w Qumran: Interpretacja opowiadań o patriachach w wybranych tekstach z Pustyni Judzkiej [Genesis...