What's in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

Answer 1

The Dead Sea Scrolls contain original, 2000+ year old manuscripts that are almost identical to the Old Testament in the Bible.

Answer 2

It's an early copy of some passages in the Bible. The thing that makes the Dead Sea Scrolls so important for believers is that the content within the Dead Sea Scrolls are remarkably similar to the modern day passages. This is important because it strikes a blow against the belief that the Bible has changed significantly since it was first written, or that there's no way to know what the original authors -really- wrote.

Basically it's a reality check for skeptics and conspiracy buffs who aren't aware of the meticulous transcription process Hebrew scribes used to copy the Bible.

Answer 3

I saw first hand the place/area.
I visited long ago the Holy Land.

I dont care what any athiest says, the bible.....basic instruction before leaving earth is alive and relevant.

The Dead Sea scrolls were first hidden, in fear of them getting into the wrong hands, losing them.
Discoverd by a young man, they were in a cave in the Qumran Valley in the desert. The man, a shepard was tending his sheep, and discovered the cave by accident, by throwing a rock into the cave, and hearing a cracking of a vase.

The great thing about the scrolls are the firm confirmation of the writings of the bible, the earliest known remnents of certain parts of the bible, the O. T.

You will find them in the Muesum of Antiquites if you ever wish to visit over there.

Or on line.

They are the OT bible in its earliest format, and they dont contradict a thing, they back up the bible completely.

The dead sea, is just that, dead cause of the salt water.
You can float on the dead sea, its so thick, I was one of the visitors to do just that. Its below sea level.

Such a huge biblical find.

If given the chance go there!

Answer 4

What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish manuscripts, most of them written in Hebrew, some in Aramaic, and a few in Greek. Many of these scrolls and fragments are over 2,000 years old, dating to before the birth of Jesus. Among the first scrolls obtained from the Bedouins were seven lengthy manuscripts in various stages of deterioration. As more caves were searched, other scrolls and thousands of scroll fragments were found. Between the years of 1947 and 1956, a total of 11 caves containing scrolls were discovered near Qumran, by the Dead Sea.

When all the scrolls and fragments are sorted out, they account for about 800 manuscripts. About one quarter, or just over 200 manuscripts, are copies of portions of the Hebrew Bible text. Additional manuscripts represent ancient non-Biblical Jewish writings, both Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.

Some of the scrolls that most excited scholars were previously unknown writings. These include interpretations on matters of Jewish law, specific rules for the community of the sect that lived in Qumran, liturgical poems and prayers, as well as eschatological works that reveal views about the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and the last days. There are also unique Bible commentaries, the most ancient antecedents of modern running commentary on Bible texts.

Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?

Various methods of dating ancient documents indicate that the scrolls were either copied or composed between the third century B.C.E. and the first century C.E. Some scholars have proposed that the scrolls were hidden in the caves by Jews from Jerusalem before the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. However, the majority of scholars researching the scrolls find this view out of harmony with the content of the scrolls themselves. Many scrolls reflect views and customs that stood in opposition to the religious authorities in Jerusalem. These scrolls reveal a community that believed that God had rejected the priests and the temple service in Jerusalem and that he viewed their group’s worship in the desert as a kind of substitute temple service. It seems unlikely that Jerusalem’s temple authorities would hide a collection that included such scrolls.

Although there likely was a school of copyists at Qumran, probably many of the scrolls were collected elsewhere and brought there by the believers. In a sense, the Dead Sea Scrolls are an extensive library collection. As with any library, the collection may include a wide range of thought, not all necessarily reflecting the religious viewpoints of its readers. However, those texts that exist in multiple copies more likely reflect the special interests and beliefs of the group.

A real breakthrough came unexpectedly in 1991. First, A Preliminary Edition of the Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls was published. This was put together with computer assistance based on a copy of the team’s concordance. Next, the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, announced that they would make available for any scholar their complete set of photographs of the scrolls. Before long, with the publication of A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, photographs of the previously unpublished scrolls became easily accessible.

Answer 5

The dead sea scrolls are comprised of 800 texts and are written in Hebrew. 30% of the scrolls are from the Jewish Bible, 20% are religious texts which are NOT part of the Jewish Bible such as the book of Enoch, and another 30% are biblical commentaries.
For more information on the scrolls, look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_sea_scrolls

Answer 6

the dead sea scrolls were found in 1947 and held under cover till recently opened for research in Israel. they prove that the Bible is in order-against the critics that claimed it had been changed and things like Isaiah was written by 2 or 3 different authors-yet now is proven to be by the one author.

it tells of the Messiah ship of Jesus not only in the Isaiah prophecies as 9:6 & 52:13-53:12 but actually tells of outside of the bible references to his Messiah ship from the Essene Jewish writers.

The dead sea scrolls written from the 1st century and before were found intact in sealed eathen containers by a shepherd boy throwing rocks and heard a noise in a cave when he had hit one of the vessles-investigating and then they were reported and taken into custody in 1947 but kept closed to the public.

Answer 7

I have read many writings from these scrolls, and they include much of the Hebrew Bible, even some of the so-called "Apocrypha" books, long presumed to have originated in Greek, and some "noncanonical" Scriptures, such as well-known Books like those of Enoch, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and others only known through their discovery in Qumran, among these scrolls, and hitherto unknown Pslams and Prayers and other Writings, since the days they were no longer known, but "lost" for long centuries.

Answer 8

The oldest known Old Testament manuscripts, but mostly they pertain to Jewish culture. There are no Gnostic texts in them, and the only relevant thing to Christianity is a passage in Isaiah that is quoted by Jesus to John the Baptist. Jesus included the words "the dead are raised" but the existing Jewish manuscripts did not have that phrase, so purported scholars said Jesus twisted the scriptures to make himself fit in. However the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date prior to Christ, and again, are the oldest surviving texts of Isaiah, have that phrase included.

Answer 9

I own a large portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls. You can buy it off of amazon. It ahs Book of Enoch, Jubilees, Enoch 2, Adam and Eve, and such. So much information left out of the bible. However, you can see why a lot didn't want it in there.

Answer 10

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish manuscripts, most of them written in Hebrew, some in Aramaic, and a few in Greek. Many of these scrolls and fragments are over 2,000 years old, dating to before the birth of Jesus. Among the first scrolls obtained from the Bedouins were seven lengthy manuscripts in various stages of deterioration. As more caves were searched, other scrolls and thousands of scroll fragments were found. Between the years of 1947 and 1956, a total of 11 caves containing scrolls were discovered near Qumran, by the Dead Sea.

When all the scrolls and fragments are sorted out, they account for about 800 manuscripts. About one quarter, or just over 200 manuscripts, are copies of portions of the Hebrew Bible text. Additional manuscripts represent ancient non-Biblical Jewish writings, both Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.

Some of the scrolls that most excited scholars were previously unknown writings. These include interpretations on matters of Jewish law, specific rules for the community of the sect that lived in Qumran, liturgical poems and prayers, as well as eschatological works that reveal views about the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and the last days. There are also unique Bible commentaries, the most ancient antecedents of modern running commentary on Bible texts.Interestingly, starting in the year 1947, some ancient documents were brought out of the darkness of caves not far from Khirbet Qumran, near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. These were the Dead Sea Scrolls, which included the prophecy of Isaiah. This is beautifully written in well-preserved pre-Masoretic Hebrew and is some 2,000 years old, from the end of the second century B.C.E. Its text is thus about a thousand years older than the oldest existing manuscript of the Masoretic text, on which modern translations of the Hebrew Scriptures are based. There are some minor variations of spelling and some differences in grammatical construction, but it does not vary doctrinally from the Masoretic text. Here is convincing proof that our Bibles today contain the original inspired message of Isaiah. Moreover, these ancient scrolls refute the critics’ claims of two “Isaiahs,” since chapter 40 begins on the last line of the column of writing containing chapter 39, the opening sentence being completed in the next column. Thus, the copyist was obviously unaware of any supposed change in writer or of any division in the book at this point.

7 There is abundant proof of the authenticity of Isaiah’s book. Aside from Moses, no other prophet is more often quoted by the Christian Bible writers. There is likewise a wealth of historical and archaeological evidence that proves it genuine, such as the historical records of the Assyrian monarchs, including Sennacherib’s hexagonal prism on which he gives his own account of the siege of Jerusalem. (Isa., chaps. 36, 37) The heap of ruins that was once Babylon still bears witness to the fulfillment of Isaiah 13:17-22. There was a living testimony in each one of the thousands of Jews that marched back from Babylon, freed by a king whose name, Cyrus, had been penned by Isaiah nearly 200 years earlier. It may well be that Cyrus was later shown this prophetic writing, for, on freeing the Jewish remnant, he spoke of being commissioned by Jehovah to do so.—Isa. 44:28; 45:1; Ezra 1:1-3.

8 Outstanding in the book of Isaiah are the Messianic prophecies. Isaiah has been called “the Evangelist prophet,” so numerous are the predictions fulfilled in the events of Jesus’ life. Chapter 53, for long a “mystery chapter,” not only to the Ethiopian eunuch referred to in Acts chapter 8 but to the Jewish people as a whole, foretells so vividly the treatment accorded Jesus that it is like an eyewitness account. The Christian Greek Scriptures record the prophetic fulfillments of this remarkable chapter of Isaiah, as the following comparisons show: vs. 1—John 12:37, 38; vs. 2—John 19:5-7; vs. 3—Mark 9:12; vs. 4—Matthew 8:16, 17; vs. 5—1 Peter 2:24; vs. 6—1 Peter 2:25; vs. 7—Acts 8:32, 35; vs. 8—Acts 8:33; vs. 9—Matthew 27:57-60; vs. 10—Hebrews 7:27; vs. 11—Romans 5:18; vs. 12—Luke 22:37. Who but God could be the source of such accurate forecasting?