SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 137
defined by Siegel, Scribes of Qumran, 73; cf. also b. Menah≥. 31b–32a where according to R.
Meir an open section should be used in mezuzot for a major content break).
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In most scrolls, this system reflects the largest degree of separation between sections. This
system is evidenced in all texts written in the square script as well as in the paleo-Hebrew script;
for the latter see, for example, the evidence relating to 4QpaleoExod m in DJD IX, 59 (TABLE 4).
Not all spaces left by scribes reflect section divisions. Poor surface often necessitated that scribes leave a segment
uninscribed (ch. 4i), and it is sometimes unclear whether the spaces reflect bad surface or a sense division. Thus, it
is unclear why after ˆk yrjaw in 4QGen j 9–10 4 (Gen 45:15) the remainder of the line was left empty (part of the leather
has peeled off in this line, but the remaining section would not have created a surface problem for the copyist).
When the writing concluded near the end of the line, there was insufficient room remaining to
leave a long enough space to indicate the new unit, and in such cases one of two different
solutions were invoked:
(i) An indentation at the beginning of the line indicates that the previous line should have
ended with a space (illustrations 3 and 21). 21
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This system is evidenced in several texts written in the square script (illustrations 3 and 21), 21 but
not in the paleo-Hebrew script; therefore, the indentation reconstructed for 4QpaleoExod m IX 31
(DJD IX, 61) is unlikely.
Hebrew manuscripts only employed indentations and did not use enlarged letters protruding into the margin
(ekthesis), such as used in several Greek manuscripts, e.g. 8H≥evXIIgr XIX 39 (Hab 3:14); for a discussion, see
APPENDIX 5.
c[hlou] sele
Dietrh[sa]" en rabdoi" autou kefalhn
atei[cis]twn autou seisq[h]sontai tou
The frequent indentations in 1QIsa a were often marked with a paragraph sign above the indentation: e.g. VII 10;
X 14, 18; XIII 31; XVI 30; XXXVII 2 (scribes A and B). As in the case of the spacing in the middle of the line, the
different-sized indentations were probably not intentional; accordingly, the large indentations in XXXVIII 15 and
XLIV 16 probably carried the same meaning as smaller ones elsewhere.
MurXII contains eight such indentations (e.g. VII 11 [Amos 7:10]; XIX 4 [Hab 3:1]; XX 16 [Zeph 2:5]).
4QapocrDan ar has an indentation in col. ii 4. In 1QapGen ar XXI, XXII and 1QH a II, III, VII (Suk. = Puech X, XI,
XV) these indentations were often very extensive (15–20 [2.5–3.0 cm] and 20–30 letter-spaces [5.0–6.5 cm]
respectively). 4QInstr d (4Q418) likewise has large indentations at the beginnings of new sections (e.g. 69 ii 10; 126
ii 11; 148 ii 4). In 1QH a col. VII (Suk. = Puech XV), the indentation is half-a-line wide and in 4QBarkhi Nafshi a
(4Q434) 1 i 12, 5.5 cm in a column of 13.5 cm wide; in 4QEn c ar (4Q204) 1 vi 4.0 cm. 4QVisions of Amram g ar
(4Q549) 2 7 has an indentation of 3.4 cm. Usually, however, these indentations are small. In 11QPs a they occupy
sometimes merely four letter-spaces (e.g. XVI 8; XX 3, 8), in other cases some twenty letter-spaces (e.g. XXVI 4;
XXVII 12), and sometimes as much as half a line (e.g. III 7; XXV 6).
The unusually large indentation extending over three lines in 11QPs a XXVII 2–4 probably does not indicate the
beginning of a prose section (lines 2–11) toward the end of this scroll which is almost exclusively written in poetry;
rather, the indentation is due to scar tissue in the scroll (thus J. A. Sanders, DJD IV, 93).
(ii) A completely empty line indicated a regular section division, illustrations 17
(differing from system c below which probably denotes a greater hierarchy of division).
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17a, 18