What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient scrolls, mostly in Hebrew, but some in Aramaic and Greek. The oldest date to the 3rd century BC. The newest date to the first century, before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD. The scrolls were discovered in caves near Qumran in the West Bank, not far from the Dead Sea. Very few of the manuscripts are complete. The majority are fragments, remnants of larger scrolls. But most are religious works and many are Biblical texts.

The story goes that, in 1947, a Bedouin shepherd was searching near Qumran for his lost sheep. Discovering an interesting cave, he tossed in a stone and was surprised to hear the sound of breaking pottery. Exploration uncovered large clay jars. Many were empty, but a few held scrolls wrapped in linen and black with age. The shepherd and his companions brought the scrolls to an antiquities dealer. From there, they eventually they came to the attention of scholars. Over the next nine years, additional scrolls were found in ten more caves nearby.

Since those first finds, additional scrolls have been discovered in sites scattered around the Dead Sea. The majority are Jewish texts written in the Roman era. Some date to the Bar Kochba Revolt, 132-136 AD. Others were penned as early as the First Temple period (8th century BC).

Why are the scrolls significant?

The Dead Sea Scrolls provide hard evidence that the Biblical text we have today has been transmitted accurately over time. When the scrolls were first discovered, our oldest authoritative Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament were the Masoretic texts, dating between 800 and 1100 AD. The scrolls found at Qumran were nearly 1000 years older. Scholars were anxious to compare the newly discovered scrolls to existing texts to determine whether the content had changed over time as copies were made.

Perhaps the greatest find among the Dead Sea Scrolls is a nearly complete scroll of the prophet Isaiah. When compared to modern texts, the Great Isaiah scroll was found to contain only a few minor variant readings and alternate spellings. It also lacks the vocalization marks found in the Masoretic and later texts. But these marks, called niqqud, were not added until the Medieval period. The Masorete scribes created the niqqud to preserve proper pronunciation.

In his Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, Gleason Archer wrote, “The system of spiritual truth contained in the standard Hebrew text of the Old Testament is not in the slightest altered or compromised by any of the variant readings found in the Hebrew manuscripts of earlier date found in the Dead Sea caves or anywhere else… It is very evident that the vast majority of them are so inconsequential as to leave the meaning of each clause doctrinally unaffected.” [Archer, Gleason L. Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1982.]

For more information, including extensive digital images, visit The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, a project of the Israel Antiquities Authority.