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Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls
In 1947 scrolls were discovered that came from caves associated with the ruined buildings belonging to a Jewish religious community that was destroyed by the Romans during the first century AD. Among many other documents about this community, the Dead Sea Scrolls include fragments representing every book in the Old Testament except the book of Esther. The scrolls were the first pre-Masoretic text in Hebrew ever discovered. Some readings in the scrolls were more closely related to the Septuagint version, others were closer to the Masoretic, while still others differ from both the Septuagint and the Masoretic. The Essenes had access to many of the manuscripts of that day and were much closer to many of the original Hebrew manuscripts than anything available before their discovery. These Dead Sea Scrolls were 1,000 years earlier than Lenigrad Codex or the Aleppo Codex, and 400 years earlier than the Codex Sinaiticus manuscript, the earliest used for translations based on the LXX.
Qumran Biblical Scrolls
Psalms 39
Deuteronomy 33
Genesis 24
Isaiah 22
Exodus 18
Leviticus 17
Numbers 11
12 Minor Prophets 10
Daniel 8
Jeremiah 6
Ezekiel 6
All of our present Bible except Esther
Although there were no references to Jesus or any other New Testament character in the Scrolls, scholars have learned more about the Hebrew and Greek languages with these manuscripts. They have also learned much about the practices of a religious group of that time, such as the Essenes (shared property and the common meal.) The discovery of these manuscripts does enable us to get closer to the original texts of the Old Testament. Therefore, modern translations (especially those made in the last few decades) are generally more accurate than older ones. These scrolls also enable scholars to resolve some of the differences between the MT and the LXX.
Variants by Transposition
Deut 31:1 Hebrew (and KJV): “And Moses went (ylk, the English equivalent of the Hebrew) and spoke these words”
LXX and 4Q31: “And Moses finished (ykl) speaking these words.”
NRSV: “When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them:”
NLT: " When Moses had finished giving these instructions to all the people of Israel, he said"
Isaiah 21:8a appears in the King James Version as, "And he cried, 'A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime.'" The NIV translation reads, "And the lookout shouted, 'Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower."
From the scrolls, we see that a later scholar transposed two letters. In the DSS we have “the lookout”, while the MT has “a lion”: Here the DSS variant seems likely; the MT could have arisen through a transposition of letters.
Text Variants by Skipping Text
Psalm 145 is an acrostic in Hebrew. Each verse begins with a different letter of the Greek alphabet and the one that begins with the letter nen is missing in MT and hence in the KJV. The missing text “The Lord is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds” is in the Septuagint and in the NRSV and NIV in the second half of verse 13.
The MT (and KJV) I Samuel 11:1 begins with ”Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh...” with no introduction indicating that he was a cruel king who had the habit of removing the right eye of captured enemies. Probably a Masoretic scribe missed an entire paragraph, since the words just before and after this paragraph look almost the same in Hebrew. The 1st century AD historian Josephus described the same episode. Therefore, the NRSV adopted the Dead Sea Scrolls addition between chapters 10 and 11
The NRSV text for Hosea 13:4 is based on MT with DSS additions in italics :“Yet I have been the Lord your God who fortifies heaven and creates the earth, whose hands made the whole hosts of heaven, but I did not show them to you to go after them, but I brought you up (from) ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.”
In Deuteronomy 32:43 the DSS and LXX have "let all God’s angels worship him" while the Masoretic text does not. Hebrews 1:6 quotes this in the NIV with a footnote .
Missing Word
MT and KJV of Isaiah 53:11 “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied... ”
Dead Sea Scroll Translation in three Isaiah scrolls include the Hebrew word of "light" and so does the LXX: “Of the toil of his soul he shall see light and he shall be satisfied...”
NRSV: “Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction ...”
Difficulty in Translation
Ps 22:16 in MT “For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil-doers have enclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.”
DSS 5/6HevPs and LXX: “For dogs are all around me, a gang of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet.”
The last letter (reading from right to left) is slightly different. ,
Virtually all English translations have followed the LXX translation instead of the MT. giving us the well known phrase, “they pierced my hands and my feet.” At least one Dead Sea Scroll supports this.
More Variants
Exodus 1:5 in the Masoretic text says 70 people went into Egypt. When Stephen said 75 in Acts 7:14, one could assume scripture was (inerrantly) recording Stephen reciting from a Septuagint error, which said 75. However, the Dead Sea Scrolls also say 75, so perhaps Stephen and the Septuagint were correct here.
The Masoretic 1 Samuel 17:4 says Goliath was 6 cubits and a span, or roughly 9 feet 9 inches. However, the Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls say 4 cubits and a span, or about 6 feet, 9 inches.
Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (KJV)
This follows the LXX, which has "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb,and shall bring forth a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel." The Hebrew MT has "Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Look, a young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. And she/you will call his name Emanu-El." The translation of the Isaiah scroll from Qumran has "Therefore, YHWH Himself will give you a sign. Look, a young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. And He will call his name Emanuel."
Both MT and the Isaiah Scroll use the Hebrew word for the young woman (almah.) The Hebrew language has a different word (betulot) to describe a female virgin but it is not used here. The Greek LXX used “parthenos”, a Greek word meaning “virgin.” The KJV, NIV and the CEV use “virgin” while the RSV, NET and the New Jerusalem Bible use “young woman.” If the reference to the "young woman" is accepted, it does not deny the virgin birth as described in the New Testament, only this prophecy in the Old Testament.
The Samaritan Pentateuch
We know that the earliest edition of the Bible consists of only the Torah or the Pentateuch. Up to about 400 BC these books are the only contents of the Jewish Bible. We know this for a fact due to an accident of history. The Samaritan sect broke away from orthodox Judaism around 400BC and retained only the Pentateuch for their scripture. The earliest Samaritan manuscript available before the DSS is from 1211 CE.
The SP contains many passages which were rewritten to support the positions of the Samaritans. For example, the location of the near-sacrifice of Isaac is at Mt. Gerazim, not Mt. Moriah as in the LXX and the MT. Like the Dead Sea Scrolls, The SP does not entirely support the Masoretic Text or the Septuagint, but on the average, it supports the Septuagint more.
Dead Sea Scrolls and LXX
The Dead Sea Scrolls agree with the Septuagint version of the Old Testament to an even greater degree than they agree with the Masoretic Text. This may be a further proof that the LXX had access to earlier Hebrew manuscripts.
Agreement of DSS and MT
The texts from Qumran proved to be word-for-word identical to the MT in more than 95 percent of the text. The 5 percent of variation consisted primarily of obvious slips of the pen and spelling alterations. Further, there were no major doctrinal differences between the accepted and Qumran texts.
As an example, of the 166 Hebrew words in Isaiah 53, only seventeen letters in1QIsb differ from the Masoretic Text
10 letters = spelling differences
4 letters = stylistic changes
3 letters = added word for “light” (vs. 11)
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17 letters = no affect on biblical teaching
Influence of DSS on Modern Translations
The 1978 New International Version (NIV) adopted 9 readings in Isaiah based on the scrolls. The 1990 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) based 20 readings of Isaiah and about 40 in First and Second Samuel on the scrolls.
Accuracy of Manuscripts Compared With Other Literature
There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, many of them fragments. Dr. Bruce Metzger (Professor Emeritus of New Testament Language and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary, a former member of the board of the American Bible Society and chairperson of the NRSV Bible Translation Committee) estimates the New Testament has 20,000 lines, an accuracy of 99.5% with only 40 lines (about 400 words) in question. Homer's Illiad is the next most reliably preserved old document. It has about 650 manuscripts, and is 95% accurate. It has 15,600 lines, with about 764 lines in doubt. .
Summary of this study:
· Beginnings of the Bible are in oral tradition, with different stories, different heroes (Israel and Judah)
· Growth in record keeping and writing of accounts in 8th c. BC (Hezekiah and Josiah)
· Authority changes from oral to written.
· Return from exile in 6th c. BC (possible editing by the priest Ezra)
· Acceptance of Pentateuch by 400 BC (Samaritan Pentateuch)
· Septuagint, Greek translation (3rd c. BC)
· Ministry of Christ (27-30 AD) and NT writings (50-100 AD)
· Canonization of Hebrew Bible (90 AD) and New Testament (397)
· Vulgate Bible translation (382 AD)
· Wycliffe Bible (1384)
· Printing Press and Gutenberg Bible (the 1450's)
· Erasmus translated a new Greek and Latin NT (1516)
· The Reformation with Luther's German Bible (1534) and the Geneva Bible (1560)
· The KJV (1611) and following English translations
· Word-for-word (literal), thought-for-thought(dynamic) translations, and paraphrases
· The Dead Sea Scrolls (1947) and their influence on Bible scholarship
There is more on the Dead Sea Scrolls at www.dkiel.com/deadseascrolls and the notes from this class are at www.dkiel.com/Bible
Conclusion
This study gives us more confidence in the accuracy of the Scriptures as they came down to us over the centuries. The fact that there are no serious differences effecting matters of faith is amazing. It only confirms that the Bible we have today is the Word of God, brought down to us throughout the years.