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129-657: The differences attested to in the Dead Sea Scrolls indicate that multiple versions of the Hebrew scriptures already existed by the end of the Second Temple period . Which is closest to a theoretical Urtext is disputed, as is whether such a singular text ever existed. The Dead Sea Scrolls, dating to as early as the 3rd century BCE, contain versions of the text which have some differences with today's Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint (a Koine Greek translation made in

258-501: A cyclotron at the University of California, Davis , where it was found that all black ink was carbon black . The red ink on the scrolls was found to be made with cinnabar (HgS, mercury sulfide). There are only four uses of this red ink in the entire collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments. The black inks found on the scrolls are mostly made of carbon soot from olive oil lamps . Honey, oil, vinegar, and water were often added to

387-455: A Greek copy of a scroll of Enoch. Cave 7 also produced several inscribed potsherds and jars. Wadi Qumran Cave 8, along with caves 7 and 9, is one of the only caves that are accessible by passing through the settlement at Qumran. Carved into the southern end of the Qumran plateau, cave 8 was excavated by archaeologists in 1957. Cave 8 produced five fragments: Genesis (8QGen), Psalms (8QPs),

516-657: A cave between 132 and 136 CE during the Bar Kokhba revolt . However, a 10,500-year-old basket made of woven reeds was also discovered in the Muraba'at caves in the Nahal Darga Reserve. Other discoveries included the remains of a child wrapped in cloth dated to around 6,000 years ago, and a cache of coins from the days of the Bar Kochba revolt. In 2021, more scrolls were discovered by Israeli authorities in

645-657: A cave near what is now known as the Qumran site. John C. Trever reconstructed the story of the scrolls from several interviews with the Bedouins. Edh-Dhib's cousin noticed the caves, but edh-Dhib was the first to actually fall into one (the cave now called Cave 1). He retrieved a handful of scrolls, which Trever identifies as the Isaiah Scroll , Habakkuk Commentary , and the Community Rule , and took them back to

774-408: A completely satisfactory solution. There are four words having one of their letters suspended above the line. One of them, מ שה , is due to an alteration of the original משה out of reverence for Moses ; rather than say that Moses's grandson became an idolatrous priest, a suspended letter nun ( נ ) was inserted to turn Mosheh into Menasheh ( Manasseh ). The origin of the other three

903-616: A different cave near the Dead Sea called the Cave of Horrors . The 972 manuscripts found at Qumran were found primarily in two separate formats: as scrolls and as fragments of previous scrolls and texts. In the fourth cave the fragments were torn into up to 15,000 pieces. These small fragments created somewhat of a problem for scholars. G.L. Harding, director of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, began working on piecing

1032-632: A finer pen) and frequently the Masorah. During the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries the Franco-German school of Tosafists influenced in the development and spread of Masoretic literature. Gershom ben Judah , his brother Machir ben Judah , Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils (Tob 'Elem) of Limoges , Rabbeinu Tam (Jacob ben Meïr), Menahem ben Perez of Joigny , Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil , Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon , Meïr Spira, and Meir of Rothenburg made Masoretic compilations, or additions to

1161-515: A perfect text sanctified in its consonantal base quickly spread throughout the Jewish communities via supportive statements in Halakha , Aggadah , and Jewish thought; and with it increasingly forceful strictures that a deviation in even a single letter would make a Torah scroll invalid. Very few manuscripts are said to have survived the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE . This drastically reduced

1290-621: A reversed nun is found referred to as a nun hafucha by the masoretes. In some earlier printed editions, they are shown as the standard nun upside down or rotated, because the printer did not want to bother to design a character to be used only nine times. The recent scholarly editions of the Masoretic Text show the reversed nun as described by the masoretes. In some manuscripts, however, other symbols are occasionally found instead. These are sometimes referred to in rabbinical literature as simaniyot (markers). The primary set of inverted nuns

1419-814: 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 include the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books later included in the biblical canons , including deuterocanonical manuscripts from late Second Temple Judaism and extrabiblical books. At

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1548-508: A synagogue. Undaunted, the Bedouins went to a nearby market, where a Syrian Christian offered to buy them. A sheikh joined their conversation and suggested that they take the scrolls to Khalil Eskander Shahin, "Kando", a cobbler and part-time antiques dealer. The Bedouins and the dealers returned to the site, leaving one scroll with Kando and selling three others to a dealer for seven Jordanian pounds (approximately $ 28, or $ 382 in 2023 dollars). The original scrolls continued to change hands after

1677-501: A team of archaeologists. The practice of storing worn-out sacred manuscripts in earthenware vessels buried in the earth or within caves is related to the ancient Jewish custom of genizah . The initial discovery by Bedouin shepherd Muhammed edh-Dhib, his cousin Jum'a Muhammed, and Khalil Musa took place between November 1946 and February 1947. The shepherds discovered seven scrolls (see § Caves and their contents ) housed in jars in

1806-439: A tefillin fragment (8QPhyl), a mezuzah (8QMez), and a hymn (8QHymn). Cave 8 also produced several tefillin cases, a box of leather objects, many lamps, jars, and the sole of a leather shoe. Wadi Qumran Cave 9, along with caves 7 and 8, was one of the only caves that are accessible by passing through the settlement at Qumran. Carved into the southern end of the Qumran plateau, Cave 9 was excavated by archaeologists in 1957. There

1935-454: A thought which some of the readers might expect them to express. The assumed emendations are of four general types: Among the earliest technical terms used in connection with activities of the Scribes are the mikra Soferim and ittur Soferim . In the geonic schools, the first term was taken to signify certain vowel-changes which were made in words in pause or after the article; the second,

2064-415: A variety of scholars in the field. Major linguistic analysis by Cross and Avigad dates fragments from 225 BCE to 50 CE. These dates were determined by examining the size, variability, and style of the text. The same fragments were later analysed using radiocarbon dating and were dated to an estimated range of 385 BCE to 82 CE with a 68% accuracy rate. The scrolls were analysed using

2193-559: Is a complete Aramaic manuscript of the Book of Enoch . Cave 12 was discovered in February 2017 on cliffs west of Qumran, near the north-western shore of the Dead Sea. Archaeological examination found pickaxes and empty broken scroll jars, indicating that the cave had been discovered and looted in the 1950s. One of the joint Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Liberty University project's lead researchers, Oren Gutfeld, stated, "Although at

2322-419: Is based entirely on Ben Asher: they are all eclectic. Aside from Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali, the names of several other Masorites have come down; but, perhaps with the exception of one—Phinehas, the head of the academy, who is supposed by modern scholars to have lived about 750—neither their time, their place, nor their connection with the various schools is known. Most scholars conclude that Aaron ben Asher

2451-761: Is commonly divided into five periods according to generations. There are approximately 120 known Tannaim. The Tannaim lived in several areas of the Land of Israel . The spiritual center of Judaism at that time was Jerusalem , but after the destruction of the city and the Second Temple , Yohanan ben Zakkai and his students founded a new Council of Jamnia . Other places of learning were founded by his students in Lod and in Bnei Brak . Some Tannaim worked as laborers (e.g., charcoal burners, cobblers) in addition to their positions as teachers and legislators. They were also leaders of

2580-544: Is concise in style with a profusion of abbreviations, requiring a considerable amount of knowledge for their full understanding. It was quite natural that a later generation of scribes would no longer understand the notes of the Masoretes and consider them unimportant; by the late medieval period they were reduced to mere ornamentation of the manuscripts. It was Jacob ben Chayyim who restored clarity and order to them. In most manuscripts, there are some discrepancies between

2709-466: Is doubtful. According to some, they are due to mistaken majuscular letters; according to others, they are later insertions of originally omitted weak consonants. In fifteen passages within the Bible, some words are stigmatized; i.e., dots appear above the letters. The significance of the dots is disputed. Some hold them to be marks of erasure; others believe them to indicate that in some collated manuscripts

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2838-469: Is found surrounding the text of Numbers 10:35–36. The Mishna notes that this text is 85 letters long and dotted. This demarcation of this text leads to the later use of the inverted nun markings. Saul Lieberman demonstrated that similar markings can be found in ancient Greek texts where they are also used to denote 'short texts'. During the Medieval period, the inverted nuns were actually inserted into

2967-424: Is his title, just as Moses and Abraham have no titles before their names. (An addition is sometimes given after a name to denote significance or to differentiate between two people with the same name. Examples include Avraham Avinu (Abraham our father) and Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher). Similarly, Hillel is often referred to as Hillel Hazaken (Hillel the elder). Starting with Rabbi Judah haNasi (Judah

3096-523: Is largely a reworking of the Tiberias . Levita compiled likewise a vast Masoretic concordance, Sefer ha-Zikronot , which still lies in the National Library at Paris unpublished. The study is indebted also to R. Meïr b. Todros ha-Levi (RaMaH), who, as early as the 13th century, wrote his Sefer Massoret Seyag la-Torah (correct ed. Florence, 1750); to Menahem Lonzano , who composed a treatise on

3225-800: Is not mentioned or cited in any known Essene writing. An eschatological fragment about the biblical figure Melchizedek ( 11Q13 ) was found in Cave 11. Cave 11 also produced a copy of Jubilees, and a proto-Masoteric text of the Torah scroll (only a fragment of the Book of Leviticus surviving), known as the Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll . According to former chief editor of the Dead Sea Scrolls 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

3354-606: The Copper Scroll . Between September and December 1952, the fragments and scrolls of Caves 4, 5, and 6 were discovered by the ASOR teams. With the monetary value of the scrolls rising as their historical significance was made more public, the Bedouins and the ASOR archaeologists accelerated their search for the scrolls separately in the same general area of Qumran, which was more than one kilometre in length. Between 1953 and 1956, de Vaux led four more archaeological expeditions in

3483-638: 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 . Many thousands of written fragments have been discovered in the Dead Sea area. They represent the remnants of larger manuscripts damaged by natural causes or through human interference, with

3612-549: The National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Sicily have suggested that the origin of parchment of select Dead Sea Scroll fragments is from the Qumran area, by using X-ray and particle-induced X-ray emission testing of the water used to make the parchment that were compared with the water from the area aroundQumran. The Dead Sea Scrolls that were found were originally preserved by the arid conditions present within

3741-549: The Rockefeller Museum ) in East Jerusalem and through their transportation suffered more deterioration and damage. The museum was underfunded and had limited resources with which to examine the scrolls, and as a result conditions of the "scrollery" and storage area were left relatively uncontrolled by modern standards. The museum had left most of the fragments and scrolls lying between window glass, trapping

3870-721: The Sanhedrin . Rabban was a higher title than Rabbi , and it was given to the Nasi starting with Rabban Gamaliel Hazaken (Gamaliel the Elder). The title Rabban was limited to the descendants of Hillel, the sole exception being Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai , the leader in Jerusalem during the siege , who safeguarded the future of the Jewish people after the Great Revolt by pleading with Vespasian . Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah , who

3999-446: The paleography and radiocarbon dating of the scrolls. Owing to the poor condition of some of the scrolls, scholars have not identified all of their texts. The identified texts fall into three general groups: The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a series of 12 caves around the site originally known as Ein Feshkha near the Dead Sea in the West Bank (then controlled by Jordan ) between 1946 and 1956 by Bedouin shepherds and

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4128-491: The 10th century. However, codification of the base consonants appears to have begun earlier, perhaps even in the Second Temple period . The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran , dating from c. 150 BCE – 75 CE , shows that in this period there was no uniform text. According to Menachem Cohen , the Dead Sea scrolls showed that "there was indeed a Hebrew text-type on which the Septuagint-translation

4257-497: The 1960s that one fragment (7Q5) preserves a portion of text from the New Testament Gospel of Mark 6:52–53. This theory was scrutinized in the year 2000 by paleographic analysis of the particular fragment. However, this faced some contention, and O'Callaghan's theory remains an area of great dispute. Later analyses in 2004 and 2018 lent credence to O'Callaghan's original assertion. Robert Eisenman has advanced

4386-596: The 1960s that the Dead Sea Scrolls originated at the library of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Later, Norman Golb suggested that the scrolls were the product of multiple libraries in Jerusalem and not necessarily the Jerusalem Temple library. Proponents of the Jerusalem origin theory point to the diversity of thought and handwriting among the scrolls as evidence against a Qumran origin of the scrolls. Several archaeologists have also accepted an origin of

4515-486: The 1990s, is the "Qumran–Essene" hypothesis originally posited by Roland Guérin de Vaux and Józef Tadeusz Milik, though independently both Eliezer Sukenik and Butrus Sowmy of St Mark's Monastery connected scrolls with the Essenes well before any excavations at Qumran. The Qumran–Essene theory holds that the scrolls were written by the Essenes or by another Jewish sectarian group residing at Khirbet Qumran. They composed

4644-468: The ASOR began a full excavation of Qumran. By February 1952, the Bedouins had discovered 30 fragments in what was to be designated Cave 2. The discovery of a second cave eventually yielded 300 fragments from 33 manuscripts, including fragments of Jubilees and the Wisdom of Sirach written in Hebrew. The following month, on 14 March 1952, the ASOR team discovered a third cave with fragments of Jubilees and

4773-531: The ASOR team. The cave initially yielded fragments of Jubilees and the Copper Scroll. Wadi Qumran Cave 4 was discovered in August 1952 and was excavated from 22–29 September 1952 by Harding, de Vaux, and Józef Milik . Cave 4 is actually two hand-cut caves (4a and 4b), but since the fragments were mixed they are labelled as 4Q. Cave 4 is the most famous of Qumran caves both because of its visibility from

4902-551: The Bedouins left them in the possession of a third party until a sale could be arranged. ( see Ownership . ) In 1947 the original seven scrolls caught the attention of Trever of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), who compared the script in the scrolls to the Nash Papyrus , the oldest biblical manuscript then known, and found similarities between them. In March the 1948 Arab–Israeli War prompted

5031-474: The British and Israel museums to remove the adhesive tape ended up exposing the parchment to an array of chemicals, including " British Leather Dressing ," and darkening some of them significantly. In the 1970s and 1980s, other preservation attempts were made that included removing the glass plates and replacing them with cardboard and removing pressure against the plates that held the scrolls in storage; however,

5160-555: The Dead Sea Scrolls to between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE, there are manuscripts from associated Judaean Desert sites that are dated between the 8th and 11th century BCE. Bronze coins found at the same sites form a series beginning with John Hyrcanus , a ruler of the Hasmonean Kingdom (in office 135–104 BCE), and continuing until the period of the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), supporting

5289-621: The English translation of the Old Testament for the King James Version (though not always followed). Next to Ibn Adoniyah, the critical study of the Masorah has been most advanced by Elia Levita , who published his famous "Massoret ha-Massoret" in 1538. The Tiberias of the elder Johannes Buxtorf (1620) made Levita's researches more accessible to a Christian audience. The eighth introduction to Walton's Polyglot Bible

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5418-459: The Essenes. Most proponents of the Qumran–Sectarian theory posit a group of Jews living in or near Qumran were responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls but do not necessarily conclude that the sectarians were Essenes. A specific variation on the Qumran–Sectarian theory emerged in the 1990s that has gained much recent popularity is the work of Lawrence H. Schiffman , who proposes that the community

5547-592: The Greek of Aquila of Sinope and Theodotion and what we now know as the Masoretic Text are minimal. Relatively small variations between different Hebrew texts in use still clearly existed though, as witnessed by differences between the present-day Masoretic Text and versions mentioned in the Gemara , and often even halachic midrashim based on spelling versions which do not exist in the current Masoretic Text. The current received text finally achieved predominance through

5676-600: The Hebrew into the Greek; rather they testify to a different pre-Christian form of the Hebrew text". On the other hand, some of the fragments conforming most accurately to the Masoretic Text were found in Cave ;4. Tannaitic sources relate that a standard copy of the Hebrew Bible was kept in the court of the Second Temple for the benefit of copyists and that there were paid correctors of biblical books among

5805-517: The Hebrew word masorah "tradition" . Originally masoret , a word found in Book of Ezekiel 20:37 (there from אסר "to bind" for "fetters"). According to the majority of scholars, including Wilhelm Bacher , the form of the Ezekiel word masoret "fetters" was applied by the Masoretes to the מסר root meaning "to transmit", for masoret "tradition." (See also Aggadah § Etymology .) Later,

5934-479: The Judaean Desert area. These fragments have therefore been designated to the temporary "X" series. There has been much debate about the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The dominant theory remains that the scrolls were produced by the Essenes, a sect of Jews living at nearby Qumran, but this theory has come to be challenged by several modern scholars. The view among scholars, almost universally held until

6063-548: The Kethiv-Qere readings and more. These observations are also the result of a passionate zeal to safeguard the accurate transmission of the sacred text. Even though often cited as very exact, the Masoretic "frequency notes" in the margin of Codex Leningradiensis contain several errors. The Masorah magna , in measure, is an expanded Masorah parva . Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) includes an apparatus referring

6192-407: The Masorah into the margin, he compiled at the close of his Bible a concordance of the Masoretic glosses for which he could not find room in a marginal form, and added an elaborate introduction – the first treatise on the Masorah ever produced. Due to its wide distribution, and in spite of its many errors, this work is frequently considered as the textus receptus of the Masorah. It was also used for

6321-461: The Masorah may be divided into three periods: (1) creative period, from its beginning to the introduction of vowel-signs; (2) reproductive period, from the introduction of vowel-signs to the printing of the Masorah (1525); (3) critical period, from 1525 to the present time. The materials for the history of the first period are scattered remarks in Talmudic and Midrashic literature, in

6450-546: The Masorah of the Pentateuch entitled "Or Torah"; and in particular to Jedidiah Norzi , whose "Minḥat Shai" contains valuable Masoretic notes based on a careful study of manuscripts. Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew Judeo-Aramaic Judeo-Arabic Other Jewish diaspora languages Jewish folklore Jewish poetry The Dead Sea Scrolls , also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls , are

6579-434: The Masoretes included a standard division of the text into books, sections, paragraphs, verses, and clauses; fixing of the orthography, pronunciation, and cantillation; introduction or final adoption of the square characters with the five final letters ; some textual changes to guard against blasphemy (though these changes may pre-date the Masoretes – see Tikkune Soferim below); enumeration of letters, words, verses, etc., and

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6708-538: The Masoretic Concordance. The Small Masorah consists of brief notes with reference to marginal readings, to statistics showing the number of times a particular form is found in Scripture, to full and defective spelling, and to abnormally written letters. The Large Masorah is more copious in its notes. The Final Masorah comprises all the longer rubrics for which space could not be found in the margin of

6837-471: The Masoretic Text and the old Greek. However, despite these variations, most of the Qumran fragments can be classified as being closer to the Masoretic Text than to any other text group that has survived. According to Lawrence Schiffman , 60% can be classed as being of proto-Masoretic type, and a further 20% Qumran style with a basis in proto-Masoretic texts, compared to 5% proto- Samaritan type, 5% Septuagintal type, and 10% non-aligned. Joseph Fitzmyer noted

6966-563: The Masoretic Text. The Masoretic Text is the basis for most Protestant translations of the Old Testament such as the King James Version , English Standard Version , New American Standard Bible , and New International Version . After 1943 , it has also been used for some Catholic Bibles , such as the New American Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible . Some Christian denominations instead prefer translations of

7095-509: The Masoretic notes are those that detail the Qere and Ketiv that are located in the Masorah parva in the outside margins of BHS. Given that the Masoretes would not alter the sacred consonantal text, the Kethiv-Qere notes were a way of "correcting" or commenting on the text for any number of reasons (grammatical, theological, aesthetic, etc.) deemed important by the copyist. The earliest tasks of

7224-533: The Masoretic notes is primarily Aramaic but partly Hebrew. The Masoretic annotations are found in various forms: (a) in separate works, e.g., the Oklah we-Oklah ; (b) in the form of notes written in the margins and at the end of codices. In rare cases, the notes are written between the lines. The first word of each biblical book is also as a rule surrounded by notes. The latter are called the Initial Masorah;

7353-590: The Mishnah, the Tosefta, the halachic midrashim, and Seder 'olam Rabba was redacted between roughly 70 CE to 250 CE. Research has demonstrated that Hebrew was spoken in Israel until about 200 CE, and it is generally agreed that tannaitic literature reflects the language and speech used in various regions of Israel during that time period. The Nasi (plural Nesi'im ) was the highest-ranking member and presided over

7482-687: The Mishnaic period, lasted about 210 years. It came after the period of the Zugot "Pairs" and was immediately followed by the period of the Amoraim "Interpreters". The root tanna ( תנא ) is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew root shanah ( שנה ), which also is the root word of Mishnah . The verb shanah means "to repeat [what one was taught]" and is used to mean "to learn". The Mishnaic period

7611-403: The Qumran area adjoining the Dead Sea. In addition, the lack of the use of tanning materials on the parchment of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the very low airflow in the caves also contributed significantly to their preservation. Some of the scrolls were found stored in clay jars, further helping to preserve them from deterioration. The original handling of the scrolls by archaeologists and scholars

7740-416: The Qumran plateau and its productivity. It is visible from the plateau to the south of the Qumran settlement. It is by far the most productive of all Qumran caves, producing 90% of the Dead Sea Scrolls and scroll fragments (approx. 15,000 fragments from 500 different texts), including 9–10 copies of Jubilees, along with 21 tefillin and 7 mezuzot . Wadi Qumran Cave 5 was discovered in 1952, shortly after

7869-418: The Scribes" ( tikkune Soferim ; Midrash Genesis Rabbah xlix. 7), assuming that the Scribes actually made the changes. This view was adopted by the later Midrash and by the majority of Masoretes. In Masoretic works these changes are ascribed to Ezra ; to Ezra and Nehemiah ; to Ezra and the Soferim ; or to Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah , Haggai , and Baruch . All these ascriptions mean one and the same thing: that

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7998-428: The Septuagint as it matches quotations in the New Testament . The oldest manuscript fragments of the final Masoretic Text, including vocalications and the masorah, date from around the 9th century. The oldest-known complete copy, the Leningrad Codex , dates from the early 11th century. The Aleppo Codex , once the oldest-known complete copy but missing large sections since the 1947 Civil war in Palestine , dates from

8127-413: The Temple court, at variance with each other. The differences between the three were resolved by majority decision. This may describe a previous period, although Solomon Zeitlin argues it is not historical. An emphasis on minute details of words and spellings, already used among the Pharisees as basis for argumentation, reached its height with the example of Rabbi Akiva (died 135 CE). The idea of

8256-411: The Text-Critical Masorah. The close relation which existed in earlier times (from the Soferim to the Amoraim inclusive) between the teacher of tradition and the Masorete, both frequently being united in one person, accounts for the Exegetical Masorah. Finally, the invention and introduction of a graphic system of vocalization and accentuation gave rise to the Grammatical Masorah. The most important of

8385-631: The area in which the original Qumran cave was believed to exist. Consequently, Cave 1 was rediscovered on 28 January 1949 by Belgian United Nations observer captain Phillipe Lippens and Arab Legion captain Akkash el-Zebn. The rediscovery of what became known as Cave 1 at Qumran prompted the initial excavation of the site from 15 February to 5 March 1949 by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities , led by Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux . The Cave 1 site yielded discoveries of additional Dead Sea Scroll fragments, linen cloth, jars, and other artefacts. In November 1951, de Vaux and his team from

8514-419: The area to uncover scrolls and artefacts. Cave 11 was discovered in 1956 and yielded the last fragments to be found in the vicinity of Qumran. Caves 4–10 are clustered in an area lying in relative proximity 150 m (160 yd) from Khirbet Qumran, while caves 1, 2, 3 and 11 are located 1 mile (1–2 kilometres) north, with Cave 3 the most remote. In February 2017, Hebrew University archaeologists announced

8643-501: The camp to show to his family. None of the scrolls were destroyed in this process. The Bedouins kept the scrolls hanging on a tent pole while they contemplated what they should do with them, periodically showing the scrolls to their people. At some point during this time, the Community Rule was split in two. The Bedouins first took the scrolls to a dealer named Ibrahim 'Ijha in Bethlehem . 'Ijha returned them, saying they were worthless, after being warned that they might have been stolen from

8772-458: The cancellation in a few passages of the "vav" conjunctive, where it had been wrongly read by some. The objection to such an explanation is that the first changes would fall under the general head of fixation of pronunciation, and the second under the head of Qere and Ketiv (i.e. "What is read" and "What is written"). Various explanations have, therefore, been offered by ancient as well as modern scholars without, however, succeeding in furnishing

8901-428: The changes were assumed to have been made by the Men of the Great Assembly . The term tikkun Soferim ( תקון סופרים ) has been understood by different scholars in various ways. Some regard it as a correction of biblical language authorized by the Soferim for homiletical purposes. Others take it to mean a mental change made by the original writers or redactors of Scripture; i.e. the latter shrank from putting in writing

9030-476: The days of Hillel and Shammai , the last generation of the Zugot, there were few disagreements among Rabbinic scholars. After this period, though, the Houses of Hillel and Shammai came to represent two distinct perspectives on Jewish law , and disagreements between the two schools of thought are found throughout the Mishnah . The Tannaim , as teachers of the Oral Law , are said to be direct transmitters of an oral tradition passed from teacher to student that

9159-423: The differences between the two are found in more or less complete Masoretic lists and in quotations in David Ḳimḥi, Norzi, and other medieval writers. The differences between Ben Naphtali and Ben Asher number about 875, nine-tenths of which refer to the placing of the accents, while the rest relate to vowels and consonantal spelling. The differences between the two Masoretes do not represent solely personal opinions;

9288-430: The discovery of Cave 4. Cave 5 produced approximately 25 manuscripts. Wadi Qumran Cave 6 was discovered alongside Cave 5 in 1952, shortly after the discovery of Cave 4. Cave 6 contained fragments of about 31 manuscripts. Wadi Qumran Cave 7 yielded fewer than 20 fragments of Greek documents, including 7Q2 (the " Letter of Jeremiah " = Baruch 6), 7Q5 (which became the subject of much speculation in later decades), and

9417-403: The discovery of a new 12th cave. There was one blank parchment found in a jar, but broken and empty scroll jars and pickaxes suggest that the cave was looted in the 1950s. In March 2021, Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of dozens of fragments bearing biblical text, written in Greek, from the books of Zechariah and Nahum . This group of findings is believed to have been hidden in

9546-520: The discovery of the scrolls, scholars had yet to locate the original cave where the fragments had been found. With unrest in the country at that time, no large-scale search could be safely undertaken. Sellers tried to persuade the Syrians to assist in the search for the cave, but he was unable to pay their price. In early 1949, the government of Jordan granted permission to the Arab Legion to search

9675-489: The eastern Judaean Desert in the West Bank. The caves are located about 1.5 kilometres (1 mi) west of the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, whence the scrolls derive their name. Archaeologists have long associated the scrolls with the ancient Jewish sect known as the Essenes , although some recent interpretations have challenged this connection and argue that priests in Jerusalem or other unknown Jewish groups wrote

9804-520: The end of the day no scroll was found, and instead we 'only' found a piece of parchment rolled up in a jug that was being processed for writing, the findings indicate beyond any doubt that the cave contained scrolls that were stolen." Some fragments of scrolls have neither significant archaeological provenance nor records that reveal in which designated Qumran cave area they were found. They are believed to have come from Wadi Qumran caves but are just as likely to have come from other archaeological sites in

9933-651: The first century CE because of parallels with motifs found in the writings of Josephus or Philo , such as the legend of the extraordinary beauty of Moses as a child. The language in which the Tannaim of Israel and Babylonia wrote is referred to as Mishnaic Hebrew (MH), or in Hebrew Lešon hakhamim , meaning the language of the Sages. Texts were written in MH between roughly 70 CE and 500 CE. Tannaitic literature, which includes

10062-548: The first mention of such notes is found in the case of R. Meïr (c. 100–150 CE). Early rabbinic sources, from around 200 CE, mention several passages of Scripture in which the conclusion is inevitable that the ancient reading must have differed from that of the present text. The explanation of this phenomenon is given in the expression "Scripture has used euphemistic language" ( כנה הכתוב ), i.e. to avoid anthropomorphism and anthropopathism . Rabbi Simon ben Pazzi (3rd century) calls these readings "emendations of

10191-466: The following regarding the findings at Qumran Cave 4 in particular: "Such ancient recensional forms of Old Testament books bear witness to an unsuspected textual diversity that once existed; these texts merit far greater study and attention than they have been accorded till now. Thus, the differences in the Septuagint are no longer considered the result of a poor or tendentious attempt to translate

10320-474: The fragments and scrolls continued to rapidly deteriorate during this time. Tannaitic Tannaim ( Amoraic Hebrew : Hebrew : תנאים [tannɔʔim] "repeaters", "teachers", singular tanna תנא [tanˈnɔː] , borrowed from Aramaic ) were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah , from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as

10449-823: The fragments together but did not finish this before his death in 1979. Wadi Qumran Cave 1 was discovered for the first time in 1946. The original seven Dead Sea Scrolls from Cave 1 are the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa ), a second copy of Isaiah ( 1QIsa ), the Community Rule Scroll (1QS), the Pesher on Habakkuk (1QpHab), the War Scroll (1QM), the Thanksgiving Hymns (1QH), and the Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen). One of

10578-450: The hands of private collectors and scholars suffered an even worse fate than those in the hands of the museum, with large portions of fragments being reported to have disappeared by 1966. In the late 1960s, the deterioration was becoming a major concern with scholars and museum officials alike. Scholars John Allegro and Sir Francis Frank were among the first to strongly advocate for better preservation techniques. Early attempts made by both

10707-558: The marginal Masorah and the final Masorah. The category of marginal Masorah is further divided into the Masorah parva (small Masorah) in the outer side margins and the Masorah magna (large Masorah), traditionally located at the top and bottom margins of the text. The Masorah parva is a set of statistics in the outer side margins of the text. Beyond simply counting the letters, the Masorah parva consists of word-use statistics, similar documentation for expressions or certain phraseology, observations on full or defective writing, references to

10836-487: The mixture to thin the ink to a proper consistency for writing. Galls were sometimes added to the ink to make it more resilient. In order to apply the ink to the scrolls, its writers used reed pens . The Dead Sea Scrolls were written on parchment made of processed animal hide known as vellum (approximately 85.5–90.5% of the scrolls), papyrus (estimated at 8–13% of the scrolls), and sheets of bronze composed of about 99% copper and 1% tin (approximately 1.5% of

10965-751: The moisture in with them, causing an acceleration in the deterioration process. During the Suez Crisis the scrolls collection of the Palestine Archaeological Museum was stored in the vault of the Ottoman Bank in Amman , Jordan. Damp conditions from temporary storage of the scrolls in the Ottoman Bank vault from 1956 to 1957 led to a more rapid rate of deterioration of the scrolls. The conditions caused mildew to develop on

11094-478: The move of some of the scrolls to Beirut , Lebanon, for safekeeping. On 11 April 1948, Millar Burrows , head of the ASOR, announced the discovery of the scrolls in a general press release. Early in September 1948, Metropolitan bishop Mar Samuel brought some additional scroll fragments that he had acquired to professor Ovid R. Sellers , the succeeding director of ASOR. By the end of 1948, nearly two years after

11223-569: The notes on the side margins or between the columns are called the Small ( Masora parva or Mp) or Inner Masorah (Masora marginalis); and those on the lower and upper margins, the Large or Outer Masorah ( Masora magna or Mm[Mas.M]). The name "Large Masorah" is applied sometimes to the lexically arranged notes at the end of the printed Bible, usually called the Final Masorah, ( Masora finalis ), or

11352-447: The number of variants in circulation and also gave a new urgency that the text must be preserved. Few manuscripts survive from this era, but a short Leviticus fragment recovered from the ancient En-Gedi Scroll , carbon-dated to the 3rd or 4th century CE, is completely identical to the consonantal Masoretic Text preserved today. New Greek translations were also made. Unlike the Septuagint, large-scale deviations in sense between

11481-724: The officers of the Temple. The Letter of Aristeas claims that a model codex was sent to Ptolemy by the High Priest Eleazar , who asked that it be returned after the Septuagint was completed. Josephus describes the Romans taking a copy of the Law as spoil, and both he and Philo claim no word of the text was ever changed from the time of Moses. In contrast, an Amoraic narrative relates that three Torah scrolls were found in

11610-472: The other, examining, however, standard codices of other schools and noting their differences. The Masorah for the most part ended in the 10th century with Aaron ben Moses ben Asher and Ben Naphtali who were the leading Masoretes of the time. Ben Asher wrote a standard codex (the Aleppo Codex ) embodying his opinions. Ben Naphtali likely did as well, though it has not survived. However,

11739-635: The people and negotiators with the Roman Empire . The Tannaim operated under the occupation of the Roman Empire . During this time, the Kohanim (priests) of the Temple became increasingly corrupt and were seen by the Jews as collaborators with the Romans, whose mismanagement of Iudaea province (composed of Samaria , Idumea and Judea proper ) led to riots, revolts and general resentment. Until

11868-407: The post-Talmudical treatises Masseket Sefer Torah and Masseket Soferim , and in a Masoretic chain of tradition found in ben Asher's Diḳduḳe ha-Ṭe'amim, § 69 and elsewhere. Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah , having collated a vast number of manuscripts, systematized his material and arranged the Masorah in the second Bomberg edition of the Bible ( Venice , 1524–1525). Besides introducing

11997-523: The pottery jars containing the scrolls from Cave 1 is now kept in the British Museum . Wadi Qumran Cave 2 was discovered in February 1952 in which the Bedouins discovered 30 fragments. The cave eventually yielded 300 fragments from 33 manuscripts of Dead Sea Scrolls, including fragments of Jubilees and the Wisdom of Sirach written in Hebrew. Wadi Qumran Cave 3 was discovered on 14 March 1952 by

12126-484: The prose books of the Bible were hardly ever written in stichs, the copyists, in order to estimate the amount of work, had to count the letters. According to some this was (also) to ensure accuracy in the transmission of the text with the production of subsequent copies that were done by hand. Hence the Masoretes contributed the Numerical Masorah. These notes are traditionally categorized into two main groups,

12255-499: The reader to the large Masorah, which is printed separately. The final Masorah is located at the end of biblical books or after certain sections of the text, such as at the end of the Torah. It contains information and statistics regarding the number of words in a book or section, etc. Thus, Book of Leviticus 8:23 is the middle verse in the Pentateuch. The collation of manuscripts and the noting of their differences furnished material for

12384-467: The reason that such faulty readings would belong to Qere and Ketiv, which, in case of doubt, the majority of manuscripts would decide. The last two theories have equal probability. In nine passages of the Masoretic Text are found signs usually called inverted nuns , because they resemble the Hebrew letter nun  ( נ ) written in some inverted fashion. The exact shape varies between different manuscripts and printed editions. In many manuscripts,

12513-716: The reputation of the Masoretes , schools of scribes and Torah scholars working between the 7th and 11th centuries in the Rashidun , Umayyad , and Abbasid Caliphates , based primarily in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem and in Mesopotamia (called "Babylonia"). According to Menachem Cohen, these schools developed such prestige for the accuracy and error-control of their copying techniques that their texts established an authority beyond all others. Differences remained, sometimes bolstered by systematic local differences in pronunciation and cantillation . Every locality, following

12642-676: 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 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

12771-601: The scrolls and fragments, and some fragments were partially destroyed or made illegible by the glue and paper of the manila envelopes in which they were stored while in the vault. By 1958 it was noted that up to 5% of some of the scrolls had completely deteriorated. Many of the texts had become illegible, and many of the parchments had darkened considerably. Until the 1970s, the scrolls continued to deteriorate because of poor storage arrangements, exposure to different adhesives, and being stored in moist environments. Fragments written on parchment (rather than papyrus or bronze) in

12900-535: The scrolls and ultimately hid them in the nearby caves during the Jewish Revolt sometime between 66 and 68 CE. The site of Qumran was destroyed and the scrolls never recovered. Arguments supporting this theory include: Qumran–Sectarian theories are variations on the Qumran–Essene theory. The main point of departure from the Qumran–Essene theory is hesitation to link the Dead Sea Scrolls specifically with

13029-437: The scrolls from deterioration and the presence of the deterioration among the scrolls. However, the government did not have adequate funds to purchase all the scrolls for their protection and agreed to have foreign institutions purchase the scrolls and have them held at their museum in Jerusalem until they could be "adequately studied". In early 1953, the scrolls were moved to the Palestine Archaeological Museum (commonly called

13158-493: The scrolls other than Qumran, including Yizhar Hirschfeld and more recently Yizhak Magen and Yuval Peleg, who all understand the remains of Qumran to be those of a Hasmonean fort that was reused during later periods. Parchment from a number of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been carbon dated . The initial test performed in 1950 was on a piece of linen from one of the caves. This test gave an indicative dating of 33 CE plus or minus 200 years, eliminating early hypotheses relating

13287-469: The scrolls to the Medieval period . Since then two large series of tests have been performed on the scrolls. The results were summarized by VanderKam and Flint, who said the tests give "strong reason for thinking that most of the Qumran manuscripts belong to the last two centuries BCE and the first century CE." Analysis of letter forms, or palaeography, was applied to the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls by

13416-601: The scrolls). For those scrolls written on animal hides, scholars with the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA), by use of DNA testing for assembly purposes, believe that there may be a hierarchy in the religious importance of the texts based on which type of animal was used to create the hide. Scrolls written on goat and calf hides are considered by scholars to be more significant in nature, while those written on gazelle or ibex are considered to be less religiously significant in nature. Tests by

13545-587: The scrolls. Most of the manuscripts are written in Hebrew , with some written in Aramaic (for example the Son of God Text ; in different regional dialects, including Nabataean ) and a few in Greek . Discoveries from the Judaean Desert add Latin (from Masada ) and Arabic (from Khirbet al-Mird ). Most of the texts are written on parchment , some on papyrus , and one on copper . Though scholarly consensus dates

13674-445: The seven Books of Moses". Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy as we know them but Numbers was really three separate volumes: Numbers 1:1–10:35 followed by Numbers 10:35–36 and the third text from there to the end of Numbers. The 85 letter text is also said to be denoted because it is the model for the fewest letters which constitute a 'text' which one would be required to save from fire due to its holiness. The history of

13803-547: The stigmatized words were missing, hence that the reading is doubtful; still others contend that they are merely a mnemonic device to indicate homiletic explanations which the ancients had connected with those words; finally, some maintain that the dots were designed to guard against the omission by copyists of text-elements which, at first glance or after comparison with parallel passages, seemed to be superfluous. Instead of dots some manuscripts exhibit strokes, vertical or else horizontal. The first two explanations are unacceptable for

13932-583: The subject, which are all more or less frequently referred to in the marginal glosses of biblical codices and in the works of Hebrew grammarians. Traditionally, a ritual Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) could contain only the Hebrew consonantal text – nothing added, nothing taken away. The Masoretic codices , however, provide extensive additional material, called masorah , to show correct pronunciation and cantillation , protect against scribal errors, and annotate possible variants. The manuscripts thus include vowel points , pronunciation marks and stress accents in

14061-429: The substitution of some words for others in public reading. Since no additions were allowed to be made to the official text of the Bible, the early Masoretes adopted other methods: e.g., they marked the various divisions by spacing, and gave indications of halakic and haggadic teachings by full or defective spelling, abnormal forms of letters, dots, and other signs. Marginal notes were permitted only in private copies, and

14190-500: The text and the masorah, suggesting that they were copied from different sources or that one of them has copying errors. The lack of such discrepancies in the Aleppo Codex is one of the reasons for its importance; the scribe who copied the notes, presumably Aaron ben Moses ben Asher , probably wrote them originally. In classical antiquity, copyists were paid for their work according to the number of stichs (lines of verse). As

14319-452: The text of the early Rabbinic Bibles published by Bomberg in the early 16th century. The talmud records that the markings surrounding Numbers 10:35-36 were thought to denote that this 85 letter text was not in its proper place. Bar Kappara considered the Torah known to us as composed of seven volumes in the Gemara "The seven pillars with which Wisdom built her house (Prov. 9:1) are

14448-474: The text was also called moseirah , by a direct conjugation of מסר "to transmit," and the synthesis of the two forms produced the modern word masorah. According to a minority of scholars, including Caspar Levias , the intent of the Masoretes was masoret "fetter [upon the exposition of the text ]", and the word was only later connected to מסר and translated as "tradition". Other specific explanations are provided: Samuel David Luzzatto argued that masoret

14577-514: The text, and is arranged alphabetically in the form of a concordance. The quantity of notes the marginal Masorah contains is conditioned by the amount of vacant space on each page. In the manuscripts it varies also with the rate at which the copyist was paid and the fanciful shape he gave to his gloss. There was accordingly an independent Babylonian Masora which differed from the Palestinian in terminology and to some extent in order. The Masora

14706-421: The text, short annotations in the side margins, and longer more extensive notes in the upper and lower margins and collected at the end of each book. These notes were added because the Masoretes recognized the possibility of human error in copying the Hebrew Bible. The Masoretes were not working with the original Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible and corruptions had already crept into the versions they copied. From

14835-631: The theory that some scrolls describe the early Christian community. Eisenman also argues that the careers of James the Just and Paul the Apostle correspond to events recorded in some of these documents. Some scholars have argued that the scrolls were the product of Jews living in Jerusalem who hid the scrolls in the caves near Qumran while fleeing from the Romans during the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Karl Heinrich Rengstorf first proposed in

14964-755: The third and second centuries BCE) and the Peshitta (a Syriac translation made in the second century CE) occasionally present notable differences from the Masoretic Text, as does the Samaritan Pentateuch , the text of the Torah preserved by the Samaritans in Samaritan Hebrew . Fragments of an ancient 2nd–3rd-century manuscript of the Book of Leviticus found near an ancient synagogue's Torah ark in Ein Gedi have identical wording to

15093-504: The tradition of its school, had a standard codex embodying its readings. In the talmudic academies in Babylonia , the school of Sura differed from that of Nehardea ; and similar differences existed in those of Syria Palaestina as against that at Tiberias, which in later times increasingly became the chief seat of learning. In this period living tradition ceased, and the Masoretes in preparing their codices usually followed one school or

15222-515: The two rivals represent different schools. Like the Ben Ashers there seem to have been several Ben Naftalis. The Masoretic lists often do not agree on the precise nature of the differences between the two rival authorities; it is, therefore, impossible to define with exactness their differences in every case; and it is probably due to this fact that the received text does not follow uniformly the system of either Ben Asher or Ben Naphtali. Ben Asher

15351-555: The vast majority holding only small scraps of text. However, a small number of well-preserved and nearly intact manuscripts have survived—fewer than a dozen among those from the Qumran Caves. Researchers have assembled a collection of 981 different manuscripts (discovered in 1946/1947 and in 1956) from 11 caves, which lie in the immediate vicinity of the Hellenistic Jewish settlement at the site of Khirbet Qumran in

15480-411: Was a Karaite rather than a Rabbinical Jew, though there is evidence against this view. The two rival authorities, ben Asher and ben Naphtali, practically brought the Masorah to a close. Very few additions were made by the later Masoretes, styled in the 13th and 14th centuries Naqdanim , who revised the works of the copyists, added the vowels and accents (generally in fainter ink and with

15609-483: Was a synonym for siman by extended meaning ("transmission[ of the sign]" became "transmitted sign") and referred to the symbols used in vocalizing and punctuating the text. Ze'ev Ben-Haim argued that masoret meant "counting" and was later conjugated as moseirah "thing which is counted", referring to the Masoretic counts of the letters, words, and verses in the Bible, discussed in Qiddushin 30a. The language of

15738-521: Was also Nasi , was not given the title Rabban , perhaps because he only held the position of Nasi for a short while and it eventually reverted to the descendants of Hillel. Prior to Rabban Gamliel Hazaken, no titles were used before someone's name, which gave rise to the Talmudic adage " Gadol miRabban shmo " ("Greater than the title Rabban is a person's own name"). This is seen as the reason that Hillel has no title before his name: his name in itself

15867-454: Was based and which differed substantially from the received MT." The scrolls show numerous small variations in orthography , both as against the later Masoretic Text, and between each other. It is also evident from the notings of corrections and of variant alternatives that scribes felt free to choose according to their personal taste and discretion between different readings. The text of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Peshitta read somewhat in-between

15996-400: Was done inappropriately, and, along with their storage in an uncontrolled environment, they began a process of more rapid deterioration than they had experienced at Qumran. During the first few years in the late 1940s and early 1950s, adhesive tape used to join fragments and seal cracks caused significant damage to the documents. The government of Jordan had recognized the urgency of protecting

16125-462: Was found in Cave 11 and is by far the longest scroll. It is 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 scholar Yigael Yadin as "The Torah According to the Essenes". On the other hand, Hartmut Stegemann, a contemporary and friend of Yadin, believes the scroll was not to be regarded as such but was a document without exceptional significance. Stegemann notes that it

16254-511: Was led by a group of Zadokite priests ( Sadducees ). The most important document in support of this view is the "Miqsat Ma'ase Ha-Torah" ( 4QMMT ), which cites purity laws (such as the transfer of impurities) identical to those attributed in rabbinic writings to the Sadducees. 4QMMT also reproduces a festival calendar that follows Sadducee principles for the dating of certain festival days. Spanish Jesuit José O'Callaghan Martínez argued in

16383-421: Was only one manuscript fragment found in Cave 9. In Qumran Cave 10 archaeologists found two ostraca with writing on them, along with an unknown symbol on a grey stone slab. Wadi Qumran Cave 11 was discovered in 1956 and yielded 21 texts of the 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 ,

16512-516: Was the last of a distinguished family of Masoretes extending back to the latter half of the 8th century. Despite the rivalry of ben Naphtali and the opposition of Saadia Gaon , the most eminent representative of the Babylonian school of criticism, ben Asher's codex became recognized as the standard text of the Hebrew Bible. Notwithstanding all this, for reasons unknown neither the printed text nor any manuscript which has been preserved

16641-583: Was written and codified as the basis for the Mishnah, Tosefta , and tannaitic teachings of the Talmud . According to rabbinic tradition, the Tannaim were the last generation in a long sequence of oral teachers that began with Moses . Early rabbinic Bible exegesis was preserved in tannaitic texts compiled in the second century CE or later, but is likely to contain much earlier material. It certainly contains some interpretations that can be traced back explicitly to

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