Library of Congress Materials Relating to the Qumran Library

These items were on display in the exhibit at the Library of Congress, May - August 1993. Images of these objects are not included in the online version of the exhibit, but these exhibit captions are included to provide some additional background on the scholarly work surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Qumran Community, and its Library.

Psalms Scroll

J. A. Sanders published his findings on the Psalms Scroll first in 1965, as the fourth volume of "Discoveries in the Judaean Desert," the official publication series. This is a later version published in the United States.

J.A. Sanders The Dead Sea Psalms Scroll (Itacha, 1967). Printed book. General Collections, Library of Congress.

The First Hebrew Printed Book of the Bible: The Psalms

Hand-written books of the Bible were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. This Psalter is the first book of the Bible printed in Hebrew. This edition of the Psalms includes the commentary of David Kimhi and was printed in 1477, probably in Bologna. The commentary on the Psalms was heavily censored by Church authorities. The owner of the book, however, inserted by hand each word that had been expunged.

Psalms (Bologna, 1477) Printed book. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress.

The Aleppo Codex

Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, the Aleppo Codex, which dates to the tenth century C.E., was the oldest known Bible codex. This facsimile was published in 1976.

Aleppo Codex (Jerusalem, 1976) Printed book. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress.

The Complutensian

This is the earliest of the great polyglot editions of the Bible and includes texts in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. Produced under the patronage of Cardinal Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros (1436-1517), it was believed to have cost 50,000 gold ducats. Psalm 145 is a hymn arranged according to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is interesting to note that today's biblical text does not include a verse for the letter "nun," the fourteenth letter of the alphabet. The fragment of the Psalm Scroll displayed here does include a missing verse for this letter.

Psalms [Complutensian] (1514-1517) Printed polyglot Bible. Rare and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress.

The Community Rule

A complete version of the Community Rule was uncovered in Cave 1. It was photographed by J. Trever, an archaeologist at the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. This manuscript is one of three that were exhibited at the Library of Congress in 1949. The fragment of the Community Rule on display here is from Cave 4.

John Trever Scrolls from Qumran Cave I (Jerusalem, 1972) Printed book. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress

Torah Scroll

This eighteenth-century Torah scroll was written in North Africa. It is rolled to Leviticus, 23:22-29, which corresponds to the Leviticus Scroll from Cave 4 displayed here (object no. 4). Note the "wandering peh" (a Hebrew letter) which occurs frequently in the displayed column.

Torah Scroll (North Africa, c. 18th century) Parchment. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress.

Leviticus Scroll

The large paleo-Hebrew fragment of Leviticus on display here was published in 1985 by D.N. Freedman and K.A. Mathews. The authors transliterated the paleo-Hebrew script into modern Hebrew characters.

D.N. Freedman and K.A. Mathews The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll (11 Qpaleo Lev) (Winnona Lake, Indiana, 1985) Printed book. General Collections, Library of Congress

First Maccabees

Displayed here is the opening page of the First Book of Maccabees from the Walton Polyglot Bible. First Maccabees describes the rule of the early Hasmonean princes who freed Judea from the yoke of the Syrian rulers in 168 B.C.E. It is included in the Roman Catholic scriptural canon, but was removed from the Protestant canon after the Reformation and relegated to the Apocrypha.

First Maccabees [Walton's Polyglot] (London, 1655-1657) Printed book. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress

Samaritan Bible

The modern descendant of the paleo-Hebrew script of the Leviticus Scroll (object no. 4) is the Samaritan script. This biblical manuscript, written in the Samaritan script, is opened to Leviticus 23:22-29. Note the similarity between the paleo-Hebrew script of the Leviticus Scroll written in the late second century B.C.E. and this Samaritan manuscript from the late nineteenth century.

Leviticus [Samaritan Pentateuch] (1880) Manuscript book. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress

Dead Sea Scrolls from the Third Century C.E.

In his ecclesiastical history, Eusebius relates the story of Origen, who consulted scrolls found in caves near Jericho for his "Hexapla," a comprehensive redaction of the Hebrew Scriptures completed in the first half of the third century C.E.

In the . . . edition of the Psalms . . . [Origen reported] again how he found one of [the translations] at Jericho in a tunnel in the time of Antoninus the son of Severus.

Eusebius Auncient ecclesiasticall histories ... (London, 1585) Printed book. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress

The First "Dead Sea Scroll": The Damascus Document

Scholar and educator Solomon Schechter's discovery in 1896 of a sectarian document--which turned out to be a medieval version of the Damascus Document--among the Cairo Genizah trove was first published in 1910 as "Fragments of a Zadokite Work." Displayed here is a reprint of this first Dead Sea Scroll publication, published 37 years before the discovery.

Solomon Schechter Documents of Jewish Sectaries (New York, 1970) Printed book. General Collections, Library of Congress.

Ecclesiasticus: The Wisdom of Ben Sirah

Included among the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus extols wisdom and ethical conduct. A Hebrew version of the book, which was known only in Greek after the tenth century, was discovered by Solomon Schechter in the Cairo Genizah in the late nineteenth century. Fragments of the original Hebrew version were discovered in Cave 2.

Displayed here are Greek (from the Septuagint), and Latin versions of Ecclesiasticus from the second of the great polyglot Bibles, the "Antwerp" or "Plantin" Polyglot.

Ecclesiasticus [Plantin's Polyglot] (Antwerp, 1569-1572) Printed book, volume 3. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress.