
Within Reason #97 Kipp Davis - What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Significance of the Three-Line Gap
- The three-line gap in 1Q Isaiah A likely signifies a transition between two distinct compositions.
- Similar multi-line breaks appear at the end of books in other Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts, like Genesis and Exodus.
Multiple Scribes and Sources for Isaiah
- Analysis of 1Q Isaiah A suggests different scribes and source materials for each half.
- These sections were also stored differently before being combined, further supporting separate origins.
Separate Circulation of Isaiah Halves
- Out of 21 Isaiah copies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 17 contain text from only one half (either chapters 1-33 or 34-66).
- This strongly suggests the two halves circulated as separate works initially.

















































Kipp Davis (@DrKippDavis) is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway, where he specialises in the assignment and reconstruction of fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls and their interpretation. (Google Books)
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a set of ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period. They were discovered over a period of 10 years, between 1946 and 1956, at the Qumran Caves near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea. Dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, the Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books later included in the biblical canons, including deuterocanonical manuscripts from late Second Temple Judaism and extrabiblical books. At the same time, they cast new light on the emergence of Christianity and of Rabbinic Judaism. (Wikipedia)
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