SCROLLS FROM THE DEAD SEA: THE ANCIENT LIBRARY OF QUMRAN AND MODERN SCHOLARSHIP Today - 2,000 Years Later Scroll Fragments These scroll fragments were displayed in the exhibit at the Library of Congress, May - August 1993. They were provided courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The exhibit captions and translations (below) provide background on the fragments and their relationships with the other Dead Sea Scrolls, the Qumran Community, and its Library. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: IMAGE FILE NAME: damasc-a.gif (b & w) IMAGE FILE NAME: damasc-b.gif (color) Damascus Document Brit Damesek 4Q271(Df) Parchment Copied late first century B.C.E. Height 10.9 cm (4 1/4 in.), length 9.3 cm (3 5/8 in.) Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (1) The Damascus Document is a collection of rules and instructions reflecting the practices of a sectarian community. It includes two elements. The first is an admonition that implores the congregation to remain faithful to the covenant of those who retreated from Judea to the "Land of Damascus." The second lists statutes dealing with vows and oaths, the tribunal, witnesses and judges, purification of water, Sabbath laws, and ritual cleanliness. The right-hand margin is incomplete. The left-hand margin was sewn to another piece of parchment, as evidenced by the remaining stitches. In 1896, noted Talmud scholar and educator Solomon Schechter discovered sectarian compositions which later were found to be medieval versions of the Damascus Document. Schechter's find in a synagogue storeroom near Cairo, almost fifty years before the Qumran discoveries, may be regarded as the true starting point of modern scroll research. References: Baumgarten, J. "The Laws of the Damascus Document in Current Research." In The Damascus Document Reconsidered. Edited by M. Broshi. Jerusalem, 1992. Rabin, C. The Zadokite Documents. Oxford, 1958. Schechter, S. Fragments of a Zadokite Work: Documents of Jewish Sectaries, vol. 1. Cambridge, England, 1910. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Damascus Document - Translation Brit Damesek 4Q271(Df) Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (1) 1. ...with money... 2. ...[his means did not] suffice to [return it to him] and the year [for redemption approaches?]... 3. ...and may God release him? from his sins. Let not [ ] in one, for 4. it is an abomination....And concerning what he said (Lev. 25:14), ["When you sell 5. anything to or buy anything from] your neighbor, you shall not defraud one another," this is the expli[cation... 6. ...] everything that he knows that is found... 7. ...and he knows that he is wronging him, whether it concerns man or beast. And if 8. [a man gives his daughter to another ma]n, let him disclose all her blemishes to him, lest he bring upon himself the judgement 9. [of the curse which is said (Deut. 27:18)] (of the one) that "makes the blind to wander out of the way." Moreover, he should not give her to one unfit for her, for 10. [that is Kila'yim, (plowing with) o]x and ass and wearing wool and linen together. Let no man bring 11. [a woman into the holy] who has had sexual experience, whether she had such experience 12. [in the home] of her father or as a widow who had intercourse after she was widowed. And any woman 13. [upon whom] there is a bad name in her maidenhood in her father's home, let no man take her, except 14. [upon examination] by reliable [women] who have clear knowledge, by command of the Supervisor over 15. [the Many. After]ward he may take her, and when he takes her he shall act in accordance with the law ...and he shall not tell... 16. [ ] L [ ] Transcription and translation by J. Baumgarten ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: IMAGE FILE NAME: warrule.gif The War Rule Serekh ha-Milhamah 4Q285 (SM) Parchment Copied early first century C.E. Height 4 cm (1 1/2 in.), length 5 cm (2 in.) Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (12) This six-line fragment, commonly referred to as the "Pierced Messiah" text, is written in a Herodian script of the first half of the first century C.E. and refers to a Messiah from the Branch of David, to a judgement, and to a killing. Hebrew is comprised primarily of consonants; vowels must be supplied by the reader. The appropriate vowels depend on the context. Thus, the text (line 4) may be translated as "and the Prince of the Congregation, the Branch of David, will kill him," or alternately read as "and they killed the Prince." Because of the second reading, the text was dubbed the "Pierced Messiah." The transcription and translation presented here support the "killing Messiah" interpretation, alluding to a triumphant Messiah (Isaiah 11:4). References: Tabor, J. "A Pierced or Piercing Messiah?--The Verdict Is Still Out," Biblical Archaeology Review 18 (1992):58-59. Vermes, G. "The Oxford Forum for Qumran Research: Seminar on the Rule of the War from Cave 4 (4Q285)," Journal of Jewish Studies 43 (Spring 1992):85-90. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The War Rule - Translation Serekh ha-Milhamah 4Q285 (SM) Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (12) 1. ]Isaiah the prophet: [The thickets of the forest] will be cut [down 2. with an axe and Lebanon by a majestic one will f]all. And there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse [ 3. ] the Branch of David and they will enter into judgement with [ 4. ] and the Prince of the Congregation, the Bran[ch of David] will kill him [ 5. by stroke]s and by wounds. And a Priest [of renown (?)] will command [ 6. the s]lai[n] of the Kitti[m] Transcription and translation by G. Vermes ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: deadsea.scrolls.exhibit rev. 6/18/93 (kde)