SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 99
The regularity of the line-spacing depends on the nature of the ruling, which varies from
document to document, and sometimes from sheet to sheet:
• 1QIsa a : Differing line-levels are visible in some adjacent columns in the same sheet, e.g. col. XIII compared
with XII and XIV.
• 1QpHab: Irregular spacing is noticeable in the individual columns.
• 4QpaleoExod m : ‘The vertical distance between the lines of script ranges from 0.65 cm to 1.0 cm. Fluctuation
occurs both between columns and within columns. Contrast, for example, cols. IX and X, averaging 0.8–0.9 cm,
with I and II, averaging 0.7–0.8 cm; and contrast within col. XVII the distance between lines 32–33, which measures
1.0 cm, with that between lines 5–6 and 17–18, which measures only 0.7 cm.’ (Skehan–Ulrich–Sanderson, DJD IX,
57).
Such line-spacing was often guided by a grid-like device sometimes leaving unequal spaces
between the lines.
• 4QpsEzek c (4Q385b) 1 i–iii: The distance between lines 2 and 3 in all three adjacent columns is larger than
that between the other lines.
• 11QT a (11Q19): Three sheets containing cols. XLV–LX were ruled with the same grid, while two subsequent
sheets (cols. LXI–LXVI) were ruled with a different one, leaving more space between the lines. Within each column
and sheet, no fixed spaces were left between the lines. The ruling was performed for the sheet as a whole, so that the
slight deviations always recur at the same place in each column within a sheet or in several sheets. Thus in cols.
XLV–LX, the space between the second and third preserved lines is consistently slightly narrower than in the
remainder of the column. For details, see Yadin, Temple Scroll (Hebrew) I.11–12.
Many DJD editions record data regarding line-spacing (in cm); for an example, see vol. XV:
4QIsa a 0.55–0.9
4QIsa b 0.45–0.75
4QIsa c 0.45–0.8
4QIsa d 0.5–0.7
4QIsa e 0.65–0.8
4QIsa f 0.6–0.9
4QJer c 0.6–1.5
The distances in cm between the lines fluctuate as follows in other well-preserved
compositions:
1QpHab 0.5–0.9
1QIsa b 0.4–0.7
1QM 0.6–0.9
1QH a 0.6–1.0
1QapGen ar 0.6–0.8
4QShirShabb d (4Q403) 0.3–0.5
4QInstr a (4Q415) 0.5–0.8
4QInstr b (4Q416) 0.5–0.8
4QInstr c (4Q417) 0.5–0.8
11QPs a 0.7–0.9
11QapocrPs (11Q11) 0.5–0.9
11QtgJob 0.5–1.1
11QT a 0.6–1.0
Exceedingly large spaces (4.0–4.25 cm) are found between the lines of 4QcryptB Unclassified
Text (4Q363).
y. Meg. 1.71d and b. Menah≥. 30a contain an instruction that the space between two inscribed
lines should be identical to the height of an inscribed line, but this rule is rarely adhered to in the
known Qumran texts. In principle, such a format can be observed only in documents written in
large letters, such as 11QPs a and MasPs a (illustr. 5a) which almost conform to the rabbinic rule.
In texts written in the paleo-Hebrew script it was relatively easy to adhere to the left border,
since in these texts inscription was ceased at the end of a line and words were completed on the
next line (i.e., split between lines). For example, in 11QpaleoLev a col. III, the following words are