Isaiah Scroll

The exact authors of 1QIsaa are unknown, as is the exact date of writing. Pieces of the scroll have been dated using both radiocarbon dating, and palaeographic/scribal dating. These methods resulted in calibrated date ranges between 356 and 103 BC, and 150–100 BCE respectively. This seemingly fits with the theory that the scroll(s) was a product of the Essenes, a mystic Jewish sect, first mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, and later by Josephus and Philo Judaeus. Further supporting this theory are the number of Essene sectarian texts found in the surrounding Qumran Caves, and the lining up of recorded beliefs to artifacts or structures at the Qumran site (like communal meals and the obsession with ritual purity lining up with rooms with hundreds of plates and many ritual baths found at the site). This theory is the most accepted in scholarly discourse. Further evidence that 1QIsaa was used by the sectarian community at Qumran is that scholars Abegg, Flint, and Ulrich argue that the same scribe who copied the sectarian scroll Rule of the Community (1QS) also made a correction to 1QIsaa. The scroll was discovered in Qumran Cave 1, by a group of three Ta'amireh shepherds, near the Ein Feshkha spring off the northwest shore of the Dead Sea between late 1946 and early 1947; initially discovered when one of the shepherds heard the sound of shattering pottery after throwing a rock while searching for a lost member of his flock. Once the shepherds agreed to return in a few days, the youngest one, Muhammed edh-Dhib returned alone before them, finding a cave filled with broken and whole jars and fragments of scrolls. Of the intact jars, edh-Dhib found all but two empty; one was filled with reddish earth, and the other with a parchment scroll (later found to be the Great Isaiah Scroll) and two oblong items covered in a black wax or pitch (later found to be the Habakkuk Commentary (1QpHab) and the Community Rule (1QS)). == Publication ==

The scroll first came into the possession of Khalil Iskander Shahin, better known as Kando, an antiques dealer who was a member of the Syrian Church. Kando was unable to make anything of the writing on the scroll, and sold it to Athanasius Yeshue Samuel (better known as Mar Samuel), the Syrian Archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church in East Jerusalem, who was anxious to have it authenticated. The Archbishop consulted many scholars in Jerusalem to determine the nature and significance of the documents, and in July 1947, he finally consulted the École Biblique and came in contact with the visiting Dutch scholar Professor J. van der Ploeg of Nijmegen University. Van der Ploeg identified one of the manuscripts at the monastery as a copy of the Book of Isaiah in Hebrew, but was met with skepticism, as a fellow scholar at the École Biblique believed that the scrolls must be fakes due to their antiquity. Trever photographed the scrolls and sent the photographs to palaeographer and dean of American archaeologists, Professor William F. Albright of Johns Hopkins University, who dated the manuscript of Isaiah at around 100 BCE. The project has digitized 1QIsaa, the Great Isaiah Scroll, providing a high-quality image of the entire scroll. The digitized scroll provides an English translation alongside the original text, and can be viewed on the museum's website or through Google Arts & Culture. == Scribal profile and textual variants ==

The text of the Great Isaiah Scroll is generally consistent with the Masoretic version and preserves all sixty-six chapters of the Hebrew version in the same sequence. The text displays a scribal hand typical of the period of 125–100 BCE. There is some debate among scholars over whether the entire original scroll was copied by a single scribe, or by two scribes mirroring each other's writing styles. A 2021 analysis by researchers at the University of Groningen applied artificial intelligence and pattern recognition tools to determine that it was highly likely that two scribes copied the scroll, each contributing one of the two halves. The scroll contains scribal errors, corrections, and more than 2600 textual variants when compared with the Masoretic codex. Recent studies have undertaken a comprehensive column-by-column analysis of the Great Isaiah Scroll, examining orthographic and scribal features across all 54 columns of the manuscript. This approach enables a systematic evaluation of scribal practices, orthographic tendencies, and textual transmission at a micro-level, complementing earlier scholarship that has primarily focused on aggregated variant counts or selected examples. Portions of this research have also been made available in English translation. Some of the major variants are notable as they show the development of the book of Isaiah over time or represent scribal errors unique to 1QIsaa. Abegg, Flint and Ulrich argue that the absence of the second half of verse 9 and all of verse 10 in chapter 2 of 1QIsaa indicates that these are slightly later additions. These verses are found in other Qumran Isaiah scrolls, the Masoretic Text, and the Septuagint. In chapter 40, a shorter version of verse 7 is found, matching the Septuagint. In the same verse there is also an insertion by a later scribe showing a longer version that is consistent with the Masoretic Text. There are also several examples of likely scribal error in the scroll, such as Isaiah 16:8–9. Most of 16:8 is missing and the first part of verse 9 is missing when compared to the Masoretic Text and Septuagint, suggesting that the scribe's eye may have skipped over part of the text. Abegg, Flint, and Ulrich note that there are a number of errors of this nature that may represent a degree of carelessness on the part of the scribe. In some cases, the variants from 1QIsaa have been incorporated in modern bible translations. An example is where 1QIsaa and Septuagint versions match and clarify the meaning, while the Masoretic Text is somewhat obscure. Peter Flint notes that the readings from the Qumran scrolls such as Isaiah 53:11 have been adopted by the New International Version translation and Revised Standard Version translation. ==Footnotes==