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This item can be found on the following maps: Dead Sea (textual finds) [German version] I. History of finds The settlement of Q. on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, c. 20 km southeast of Jerusalem, receives its name from Wādī Q., at the end of which it lies. After Bedouins discovered the first scrolls in nearby caves in 1947, the settlement of Q. itself was excavated in a total of five campaigns, 1951-1956 [11; 28; 29; 30; 31], and digs and surveys have been carried out very recently [5; 18; 24; 26]. The Ḫirbat Q. site es…

[German version] A. Etymology The name E. (Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι; Essēnoí, Essaîoi) was probably applied by outsiders to the community that it describes. It represents an attempt to render in Greek the Aramaic ḥasayya ( ḥsyh is Qumranic, now attested in the non-Essene Aramaic Levi Document: wl mtmḥ šm ḥsyh mn kwl mh llm, ‘and the name of the devout will not be extinguished in eternity’; 4 Q 213a 3-4 6). The Hebrew ḥāsı̂d that has the same meaning as the Aramaic ḥasayya is also found, as part of a place-descriptor of the settlement of Qumran that had at that time been destr…

Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Totes Meer (Textfunde) [English version] I. Fundgeschichte Die am NW-Ufer des Toten Meers, ca. 20 km südöstl. von Jerusalem gelegene Siedlung von Q. erhielt ihren Namen vom Wādī Q., an dessen Ende sie liegt. Nachdem Beduinen 1947 in nahegelegenen Höhlen die ersten Schriftrollen entdeckten, wurde in den J. 1951-1956 [11; 28; 29; 30; 31] in insgesamt fünf Kampagnen die Siedlung von Q. selbst ausgegraben. Bis in die jüngste Zeit wurden Nachgrabungen und Surveys vo…

Als Textfunde vom T. M. (Asphaltitis limne) werden jene Hss. bezeichnet, die in den am T. M. gelegenen FO Ketef Jericho, Qumrān (= Q), Ḫirbat al-Mird, Wādī n-Nār, Wādī l-Ġuwair, Wādī l-Murabbaa (= WM), Wādī Sudair, Naḥal Ḥever (= NḤ), Naḥal Mišmȧr, Naḥal Ṣeelim und der Masada (= M) sowie in dem zw. Samaria und Jericho gelegenen Wādī d-Dāliya (= WD) gefunden wurden. Eine vollständige Liste aller Texte (= T.) findet sich in [3. Bd. 39]. [English version] I. Wādī d-Dāliya Die mit Ausnahme von WDSP 38 (griech.) in aram. Sprache verfaßten und stark beschädigten Wadi ed-Daliyeh Samari…

[English version] A. Etymologie Der Name E. (Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι) wurde der so bezeichneten Gemeinschaft wohl von Außenstehenden gegeben. Sie stellt die griech. Wiedergabe des aram. ḥasayya dar ( ḥsyh ist qumranisch jetzt in dem nichtessenischen Aramaic Levi Document belegt: wl mtmḥ šm ḥsyh mn kwl mh llm, ‘und der Name der Frommen wird nicht ausgelöscht werden in Ewigkeit’; 4 Q 213a 3-4 6). Das zu aram. ḥasayya bedeutungsäquivalente hebr. ḥāsı̂d findet sich als Teil einer Ortsbezeichnung der damals schon zerstörten Siedlung von Qumran auch in einem auf 134/5 …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Words for wisdom display a great range of meanings, which need to be taken into account in discussing Wisdom literature. Etymologically the words wise and wisdom ¶ (also Ger. Wissen, “knowledge”) derive from the Proto-Indo-European root * weid- (cf. Sanskrit vid- with its derivatives veda, “[religious] knowledge,” and vidya, “knowledge”; also Lat. videre, “see”). Gk γνῶσις/ gnṓsis, “knowledge” (including the technical term Gnosis), Sanskrit jñāna-, “knowledge,” and Eng. know have a common verbal root * jen( ə)-. Equivalents to the Heb. verb םכ…

[German Version] The term Dead Sea Scrolls (Ger. somewhat misleadingly Qumrantexte; modern Heb. megilot midbar yehudah) is a collective term for the manuscripts discovered near the Dead Sea at Ketef Jericho, Qumran, Khirbet Mird, ¶ Wadi en-Nar, Wadi Ghweir, Wadi Murabbaʿat, Wadi Sdeir, Na ḥal Ḥever, Na ḥal Mishmar, Na ḥal Ṣeʿelim, Masada, and in the Wadi ed-Daliyeh between Samaria and Jericho. A complete list of all the texts can be found in E. Tov et al., eds., The Texts from the Judaean Desert (DJD 39, 2002). This article deals with the individual sites and their manusc…

[German Version] I. Manuscripts and Influence at Qumran Three manuscripts of the Temple Scroll have survived: 4QT (4Q524), 11QTa, b (11Q19 and 11Q20). The assignment of 11Q21 (11QTc) to the Temple Scroll is uncertain. Paleography and damage patterns link 4Q365a (4QT?) to the manuscript 4Q365 (4QRPc). The manuscript 11QTa, with remnants of 66 columns (8.148 meters out of what was originally about 9 meters), is the best preserved. The earliest surviving manuscript, 4QT, can be dated paleographically to the period between 150 and 125 bce (Puech, 87f.). With minor variations, the t…

[German Version] I. Genre The title Sectarian Rule or Community Rule ( serek) has been given to works of various types that deal with the religious regulation of actual communities (e.g. the Essenes [see also Qumran], e.g. S and D) or eschatological communities (the army of the Sons of Light, e.g. SM). The term serek is taken from the title of manuscript 1QS; only recently has it been applied to a broad spectrum of different religious rules. The Essenes also referred to such rules as midrash (4QSb 5 1; 4QSd 1 I 1; 4QDe 11 II 15; [4QDa 18 V 20]), making clear the “exegetical” character of t…

Part of 1 History of Research - 1.1 Hebrew and Greek Texts in Judaism and Christianity - 1.1.2 Medieval Times - 1.1.2.2 Christian Scholarship In medieval times, Christians relied for the Hebrew text of the Bible, mainly on the works of Origen and Jerome but did not study it textcritically themselves. Despite occasional Christian interest in the Hebrew language as e.g. illustrated by Isidore of Seville’s Etymologies,1 by Bede,2 and by Roger Bacon,3 only very few Christians were able to read Hebrew texts.4 The diverse textual transmission of the Vulgate (I.1.3.5; 1.2.1) motivated Chris…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.1 Introduction - 1.1.2 Canonical History of the Hebrew BibleThe Jewish canon is known today as a collection of twenty-four holy books structured in three parts: Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Minor Prophets), and Writings (Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Canticles, Qohelet, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra–Nehemiah, 1–2 Chronicles). Its contents and structure developed over many centuries if not more than a millennium. 1.1.2.1.1 Terminol…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.2 The Textual Histories of the Deuterocanonical TextsThis article deals only with Jewish Aramaic textual versions of deuterocanonical texts. I will therefore address neither Christian Palestinian Aramaic texts (1.2.13) nor any Syriac versions (1.2.5) – Syriac being a dialect of Aramaic. For the Jewish Aramaic textual versions of the deuterocanonical books, the same general considerations apply as for their Hebrew ones. The reader is therefore referred to the principal deliberations at 1.2.2.1.Most Aramaic versions of deuterocanonical book…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.2 The Textual Histories of the Deuterocanonical Texts1.2.2.1 General Considerations regarding Hebrew and Aramaic TextsAs a modern term, the word deuterocanonical delimits texts that were not recognized by ancient Jews as canonical.1 It describes the differences between the Jewish canon (I.1.1.2.1) and the various Christian canons (I.1.1.2.2; 1.1). Those books that are not canonical in Judaism but are canonical in one or more Christian canons are regarded as deuterocanonical. In Christianity itself, the deuterocanon…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.1 Introduction - 1.1.2 Canonical History of the Hebrew BibleThis article discusses how the Christian canon of the Old Testament developed until, in his letter to Bishop Exsupersius of Toulouse, Pope Innocent i authorized a specific canon list in the year 405 c.e. (1.1.2.2.6.6). Innocent’s decision marks an important turning point in the canonical history of the Christian Old Testament because for the first time a canonical list was backed by papal authority. Nevertheless, the structure and book repertoire of …

Part of 3 Joshua - 3.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThree Hebrew manuscripts of the book of Joshua survive from antiquity. 4QJosha and 4QJoshb were found at Qumran, while XJosh comes most likely from one of the sites connected with the Second Jewish War. Of these three Joshua manuscripts, the text of 4QJosha is non-aligned, while the text of 4QJoshb can be characterized as semi-Masoretic and the text of XJosh as proto-Masoretic. For 4Qpaleo paraJosh, it remains uncertain whether it attests to a variant literary edition of the book of Joshua or, more likely, to a rewriting of that book.1 3.2.1.1 4QJos…

Manuscript finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Genizah manuscripts, the discoveries at Nag Hammadi, and many more have radically changed our knowledge of the textual history of the Jewish and Christian Bibles. These new insights have led to several noticeable paradigm shifts in the field of textual criticism. Textual witnesses are no longer regarded as quarries for textual variants but are studied as texts and traditions in their own right. For instance, the study of the Septuagint is …

Part of 2 Pentateuch - 2.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsIn this article1 only the Pentateuch manuscripts from the Dead Sea as well as late ancient and early medieval Pentateuch manuscripts are discussed. Other textual evidence from antiquity, such as the Silver Scrolls from Ketef Hinnom, ancient tefillin and mezuzot, the Nash Papyrus, the Severus Scroll Variant List, and Rabbi Meir’s Tora are addressed in 2.2.5. A total of 106 manuscripts from the various sites around the Dead Sea that attest to the text of the Pentateuch have been published. Of thes…

Part of 17 Esther - 17.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThere are no surviving manuscripts of the book of Esther from antiquity. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars have stated that no copy of Esther was found at the various sites around the Dead Sea.1 Although this is certainly true, several Essene texts from the Qumran library allude to the book of Esther.2 Esth 2:9, 17 1QS (1Q28) ii:4 Esth 3:7 4QDb (4Q267) 9 i 1 Esth 3:7 4QMen of People Who Err (4Q306) 1 2 Esth 3:14 1QSa (1Q28a) i:26–27 Esth 9:22 4QpHosa (4Q166) ii:16–17 These allusions leave little doubt that the Essenes knew the…

Part of 16 Lamentations - 16.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThe only four ancient Hebrew manuscripts of Lamentations that are extant were all found in the Qumran caves.1 16.2.1.1 3QLam (3Q3)Only two small fragments of 3QLam are extant attesting to nine complete or partial words from Lam 1:10–12 and 3:53–62. The manuscript was executed in a Herodian formal hand.2 The tetragrammaton is written in the paleo-Hebrew alphabet (3QLam 1 2 = Lam 1:11). Baillet’s reconstruction of the text points to a stichometric arrangement of the two preserved acrostics, in which ea…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.7 The Biblical Text in Light of Its Quotations and AllusionsThe study of the ancient, late ancient, and early medieval textual history of the Hebrew Bible suffers from a distinct lack of manuscript evidence. In the case of the Hebrew Bible, quotations from and allusions to biblical books are a mostly untapped resource that preserves not only individual variant readings from these epochs but also provides information about the dispersion of possible group affiliations of the vario…

Part of 15 Qohelet - 15.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThe only complete Hebrew text of Qohelet is mt-Qoh. It is also the only textual witness to the (proto-)Masoretic text of Qohelet. The two Qumran manuscripts 4QQoha and 4QQohb attest only to small portions of the book and are non-aligned in character (15.2.1; 15.2.3). Because mt-Qoh and the known textual sources of the book – especially the early primary translations of Qohelet – are close to one another, there is general agreement that the Hebrew text of Qohelet did not suffer much during its transmiss…

Part of 11 Job - 11.2 Ancient and Late Ancient Hebrew TextsIn addition to two manuscripts attesting to Aramaic translations of Job (11.3.3.2; 4QtgJob and 11QtgJob), four Hebrew Job manuscripts from Qumran survive from antiquity. While insufficient text is extant of 2QJob, 4QJobb, 4QpaleoJobc, and 4QJobd for text-typological classification, 4QJoba attests to a non-aligned text of Job. Job is among the few texts for which also a late ancient manuscript might be preserved, i.e., Antinoopolis 49–50. Its text is proto-Masoretic in character but its…

Part of 8 Ezekiel - 8.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsUnlike the case with many other biblical books, no Hebrew Ezekiel manuscripts that attest to a text unrelated to the Masoretic textual tradition have survived from the Second Temple period. All ancient Ezekiel manuscripts of which sufficient text is preserved for textual qualification (4QEzeka8.2.1.4; 4QEzekb8.2.1.4; 11QEzek 8.2.1.6; MasEzek 8.2.1.7) align with mt-Ezek. This raises the question whether any other Hebrew texts of Ezekiel existed in the Second Temple period. In drawing on non-Masoretic texts for their translations,1og-Ez…

Part of 10 Psalms - 10.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsBetween fourteen and thirty-six manuscripts from antiquity of various psalms collections as well as four excerpted psalms scrolls from the different sites around the Dead Sea have been published. The way in which I understand the evidence of these manuscripts has been influenced significantly by the work of Flint, who developed his views following the publication of his PhD thesis1 in many articles and other publications on the Psalms.2Unlike many other biblical books, the main textual difference between the ancient Psalms ma…

Part of 15 Qohelet - 15.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThe only complete witness to the Hebrew text of Qohelet from antiquity is the consonantal text of mt-Qoh (15.2.2; for the most important medieval Qohelet manuscripts, see 15.2.2.2). Two ancient fragmentary Qohelet manuscripts were found in the Qumran library, i.e. 4QQoha and 4QQohb.1 15.2.1.1 4QQoha (4Q109)The seven extant fragments of 4QQoha (4Q109) can be attributed to three columns of the original scroll and preserve sections of Qoh 5:13–17; 6:1?, 3–8, 12; 7:1–10, 19–20. 4QQoha is among the earliest manuscripts from Qumran. It…

Part of 19 Ezra–Nehemiah - 19.2 Ancient Hebrew-Aramaic TextsTwo manuscripts of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah from the Dead Sea Scrolls are published, one coming from the Qumran library and the other being of unknown origin and in private ownership (XNeh). A further fragment with remnants of Neh 2:13–16 is part of the Green collection (dss F.Neh1).1 19.2.1.1 4QEzra (4Q117)Of 4QEzra, three small and extensively damaged fragments were found at Qumran attesting to remnants of Ezra 4:2–6, 9–11; 5:17–6:5. Although no section of Nehemiah is preserved in 4QEzra, i…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.2 Ancient Hebrew-Aramaic TextsThere is no comprehensive history of research on the textual criticism and textual history of the Hebrew biblical text in existence. The need for such a comprehensive history of research is an ever more pressing desideratum in textual criticism. Since the discoveries of the Firkovich collections, the Cairo Genizah, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, a wealth of data exists for the ancient and medieval transmission of the Hebrew biblical text. At the sa…

Part of 14 Canticles - 14.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsOf the four ancient Hebrew Canticles manuscripts found at Qumran (14.2.1) only two do not align with mt-Cant (4QCanta and 4QCantb; 14.2.2). 4QCantb developed out of mt-Cant, while 4QCanta is an abbreviated version of a forerunner of mt-Cant. 4QCantc and 6QCant are too badly damaged for text-typological and textual characterization. 14.2.3.1 Text of 4QCanta (4Q106)The text of 4QCanta (14.2.1.1) is difficult to characterize. Most if not all of the manuscript’s secondary readings represent intentional changes intro…

Part of 13 Ruth - 13.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsAs detailed in 13.2.1, 2QRuthb (13.2.1.1) and 4QRuthb (13.2.1.4) are too damaged to allow for orthographic and text-typological classifications and neither do they allow for an overall textual characterization of the texts of Ruth to which they attest. Nevertheless, they include a number of non-aligned readings that warrant discussion.13.2.3.1 2QRuthb (2Q17)The twenty-six preserved words of 2QRuthb (13.2.1.2) allow neither for a text-typological classification nor for a textual characterization. Nevertheless, this …

Part of 14 Canticles - 14.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsFour damaged manuscripts of Canticles survive from antiquity. All four manuscripts were found in Caves 4 and 6 at Qumran. Two scrolls attest to non-aligned texts of Canticles (4QCanta and 4QCantb) while the other two scrolls are too damaged for textual classification (4QCantc and 6QCant). 4QCantc could even represent a quotation from Canticles in a non-biblical text. 14.2.1.1 4QCanta (4Q106)Of the six extant fragments of 4QCanta, frgs. 1–5 were part of three consecutive columns of the original scroll. 4QCanta attests to remnants of …

Part of 12 Proverbs - 12.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThree, four, or five ancient manuscripts are preserved of the book of Proverbs. All were found in the Qumran caves. 12.2.1.1 4QProva (4Q102)Of 4QProva, two frgs. are extant that attest to forty-two partly or completely preserved words from Prov 1:27–2:1. In principal, such a small passage could also be a quotation from Proverbs in a nonbiblical book. However, as Prov 2:1 begins a new instruction, it is more likely that 4Q102 is a Proverbs manuscript than one that merely preserves…

Part of 13 Ruth - 13.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsFive Hebrew Ruth manuscripts are preserved from antiquity among the manuscripts from Qumran caves 2 and 4. Extensive damages make the texttypological classification for all five manuscripts difficult, if not impossible. 13.2.1.1 2QRutha (2Q16)The eight heavily damaged frgs. of 2QRutha can be identified as cols. ix–xiii (frgs. 1–7) and xvi (frg. 8) of the original scroll. They attest to remnants of Ruth 2:13–3:8 and 4:3–4. Paleographically, 2QRutha resembles the early Herodian formal hands of 1QpHab and 4QDeutj (4Q37) and thus can be da…

Part of 5 Samuel–Kings - 5.3 Ancient Hebrew TextsAlthough none of the Samuel–Kings manuscripts from Qumran include both the books of Samuel and Kings, the material reconstruction of 4QSama and 4QKgs makes it likely that these scrolls once included more than only the books of Samuel or Kings respectively. Furthermore, lxx regards the four books as one literary work divided into four parts (βασιλειων α-δʹ, 1–4 Kingdoms). For both reasons, 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings are discussed together in this entry.Eleven ancient manuscripts of 1 Samuel–2 Kings have been published. The id…

Part of 15 Qohelet - 15.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsBesides mt-Qoh (15.2.2), only two further textual witnesses to the book of Qohelet are known in Hebrew, i.e. 4QQoha (4Q109) and 4QQohb (4Q110).1 They will be discussed below. 15.2.3.1 4QQoha (4Q109)Although 4QQoha was published already in 1954, the Qohelet text it attests to did not spark extensive discussion. Its text-typological classification as non-aligned is discussed above, 15.2.1. In addition to this characterization, Muilenburg’s hope that several variants “are strong enough to su…

Part of 18 Daniel - 18.2 Ancient Hebrew-Aramaic TextsEight ancient Hebrew/Aramaic manuscripts of the book of Daniel from the Qumran library have been published.1 Of these manuscripts, the text of 1QDanb and 4QDand is semi-Masoretic, while the text of 4QDana, 4QDanb, and 4QDanc is non-aligned in character. 4QDana and 4QDanb even stand in the same non-aligned textual tradition. Due to material damages, the text-typological classification of 1QDana, 4QDane, and 6QpapDan is impossible. 4QDane most likely represents an excerpted Daniel text that included only Dan 9:4b–19…

Part of 7 Jeremiah - 7.2 Ancient Hebrew-Aramaic TextsThe only complete witness to a Hebrew text of the book of Jeremiah that goes back to antiquity is the consonantal text of mt-Jer (see 7.2.2 for the most important mt-Jer manuscripts). The published ancient Hebrew manuscripts of Jeremiah were all found in the Qumran caves. Their classification into non-aligned, proto-, or semi-Masoretic manuscripts and texts attesting to the Hebrew Vorlage of lxx (for this system of classification, see 1.2.2.2.3 and 1.2.1) is facilitated somewhat in the case of the book of Jeremi…

Part of 7 Jeremiah - 7.2 Ancient Hebrew-Aramaic TextsIn addition to the proto- (4QJera7.2.1.2) and semi-Masoretic (2QJer 7.2.1.1; 4QJerc7.2.1.4) Jeremiah manuscripts discussed above, only the medieval Masoretic manuscripts attest to this textual version of the book of Jeremiah. Qumran manuscripts are discussed in entry 7.2.1. The medieval manuscripts are discussed in 7.2.2.5.The text of mt-Jer is radically different from the Greek version (7.3) of this book. It follows a different textual sequence than lxx-Jer (see below, 7.2.2.2.2) and is significantly longer. Accor…

Part of 7 Jeremiah - 7.2 Ancient Hebrew-Aramaic TextsMy text-typological assessment in 7.2.1 demonstrated that in its final text 4QJera attests to a proto-Masoretic Jeremiah text and that 2QJer and 4QJerc are witnesses of semi-Masoretic Jeremiah texts. Based on variant statistics, I have further argued that 4QJerd,e and ms Schøyen 4612/9 are too damaged for text-typological classification, while it is doubtful whether XJer? attests to the book of Jeremiah at all. Based on its textual sequence and repertoire, I classified 4QJerb as attesting to the Hebrew parent text of lxx-Jer. Abov…

Part of 20 1–2 Chronicles - 20.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThe only extant ancient manuscript of 1–2 Chronicles is the extensively damaged scroll 4QChr (4Q118).…

Part of 4 Judges - 4.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsFour Hebrew manuscripts of the book of Judges survive from antiquity. 1QJudg, 4QJudga, and 4QJudgb were found at Qumran, while XJudg comes from one of the sites around the Dead Sea connected with the Second Jewish War. 4.2.1.1 1QJudg (1Q6)Forty heavily damaged fragments of 1QJudg (4.2.3.1) survive, of which thirty-one fragments can still be identified.1 The identifiable fragments of 1QJudg attest to remnants of Judg 1:12–13; 3:8; 5:15–16; 6:15–16, 20–22, 25–26, 39–40?; 9:1–6, 28–35, 38, 40–44, 48–49; 10:7–9; 11:19…

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.2 Ancient Hebrew-Aramaic TextsUntil the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Hebrew text of the Hebrew Bible was almost exclusively known through the medieval Masoretic text (1.2.1). Only the Nash Papyrus (2.2.5.2), the Severus Scroll variant list (2.2.5.4), the variant readings attributed to Rabbi Meir,1 and biblical quotations in the ancient Jewish (1.6; 1.7.1) and rabbinic literature (21.6) provided rare insights into the ancient and late ancient history of the Hebrew text of the Bible. In addition, precious …

Part of 14 Canticles - 14.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsThe only complete Hebrew text of Canticles is mt-Cant. It is also the only textual witness to the (proto)-Masoretic text of Canticles. Of the four Canticles manuscripts from Qumran, 4QCanta and 4QCantb are non-aligned in character while 4QCantc and 6QCant are too damaged for text-typological classification (14.2.1). The text of 4QCantb (14.2.3.2) as well as the texts of the ancient versions all developed out of mt-Cant, while 4QCanta preserves an abbreviated version of a textual predecessor of mt-Cant (14.2.3.1).14.2.2.1 History of …

Part of 8 Ezekiel - 8.2 Ancient Hebrew TextsSeven ancient manuscripts with remnants of the book of Ezekiel have been published. A further possible Ezekiel fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls with remnants of Ezek 28:22 is part of the Green Collection (Inv. motb.scr.003174 = gc 6 = dss f.Ezek1).1 Six of the published manuscripts were found in various caves around Qumran and one on the Masada fortress. 3QEzek and 4QEzekc could also attest to an Ezekiel quotation in a non-biblical text and 4QEzekb did not contain the whole text of Ezekiel. The small amount of text preserved in 1Q…

Manuscript finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Genizah manuscripts, the discoveries at Nag Hammadi, and many more have radically changed our knowledge of the textual history of the Jewish and Christian Bibles. These new insights have led to several noticeable paradigm shifts in the field of textual criticism. Textual witnesses are no longer regarded as quarries for textual variants but are studied as texts and traditions in their own right. For instance, the study of the Septuagint is …

Part of 1 Overview Articles - 1.1 The Canonical Histories of the Deuterocanonical Texts1.1.1.1 IntroductionThe questions of which books are included in a given Bible and of which sequence they follow mark, without a doubt, the most extensive macro variants in the textual histories of the Jewish and Christian Bibles.1 It is therefore more than appropriate that the first (I.1.1.2.1; I.1.1.2.2) and second volumes of THB (1.1) interact not only with the textual but also the canonical histories of the Jewish Bible and the Christian Old Testament in its various versions. In THB 1, I have des…

Part of 1 History of Research - 1.1 Hebrew and Greek Texts in Judaism and Christianity - 1.1.1 Antiquity and Late Antiquity To write a history of research on ancient and late ancient Jewish textcritical scholarship has to overcome many obstacles. To my knowledge no survey like this has yet been done and even Jewish textcritical scholarship of that period is under-researched. No philological or other treatises about critical research investigating the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek texts of the Jewish scriptures are preserved from antiquity or late antiquity. Despite these problems, both…

Part of 1 History of Research - 1.13 Polemics The topic of this article is vast and to a large extent unexplored. The presumed objectivity of textual criticism seems to have suggested to historians of research, that textcritical research is free from antisemitic bias. Nevertheless, since antiquity, textual critics were and are not free of the hatreds and biases of their times. It is therefore all the more regrettable that only a few and isolated attempts have been made asking if biblical textual critics …

Part of 1 History of Research 1.0.1 Overview of THB 3: A Companion to Textual Criticism Volume 3 of the Textual History of the Bible ( A Companion to Textual Criticism, editors Russell E. Fuller and Armin Lange) is a unique collection of articles providing new insights and surveying existing research on the textual criticism and textual history of the Jewish Scriptures and their deuterocanonical literature. It consists of four parts that are each published as standalone subvolumes. Their entries span the history of research…

Concept and HistoryManuscript finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Genizah manuscripts, the discoveries at Nag Hammadi, and many more have radically changed our knowledge of the textual history of the Jewish and Christian Bibles. These new insights have led to several noticeable paradigm shifts in the field of textual criticism. Textual witnesses are no longer regarded as quarries for textual variants but are studied as texts and traditions in their own right. For instance, the study of t…

Part of 1 History of Research - 1.1 Hebrew and Greek Texts in Judaism and Christianity - 1.1.3 Modern Times The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls revolutionized both the study of the Hebrew (I.1.2.2; I.1.2.3) and Greek texts of the biblical books (I.1.3.1.1; I.1.3.1.2).1 On the one hand, the Dead Sea Scrolls illuminated the textual plurality of the textual transmission of the biblical books before the closure of the Biblical canon (I.1.1.2; II.1.1.1) and on the other hand they allowed for new insights into the textual history of their Greek translations. The finding …