SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 169
section marker in conjunction with a spacing device could indicate a greater content division than
mere spacing. However, it is more likely that the section markers were added secondarily by
users. In 1QIsaa , one often has the impression that the section markers had been arranged (by a
user?) in pairs, separating the section between two markers (see, e.g. cols. VIII, XXIII, XXIV,
XXXIV, XL, XLI, XLVIII).
While occurring between two lines, section markers usually mark the end of the preceding
section, and not the beginning of a new one. This is clear when the marks occur at the end of a
section before a blank line (e.g. 1QS IX 11) and even at the end of a composition (XI 22 and 1QSa
II 22). At the same time, in some compositions the section marker indicates the beginning of a
unit, e.g. 4QRitPur A (4Q414) before 7 1; 31 1; 4QSapiential-Hymnic Work A (4Q426) ii 1;
4QpapPrQuot (4Q503) III 1; 4QpapRit-Pur B (4Q512) 13.
It is difficult to determine whether the paragraph signs were inserted by the original scribes,
later scribes, or users. The majority of these signs were probably inserted after the writing was
completed. In 1QS, for example, the angular paragraph signs neatly denote most open sections as
well as several closed sections, but in addition they denote several additional locations in which,
according to the later scribe, such a section ought to have been indicated, but presently the
paragraphos is the only sign indicating a new section: III 19; IX 6, 20; X 7; XI 16, in the latter case
used in conjunction with two dots placed as a dicolon in the line itself; see fig. 17 and the analysis
in § h below.
The fact that the section markers do not occur at the same place in other copies of these
compositions shows that they were specifically inserted by certain scribes and/or users in certain
manuscripts, and were not part of the scribal transmission of that manuscript. Thus, the various
paragraphoi of 1QIsaa are not found in the parallel positions in any of the other manuscripts of
Isaiah. In another instance, the paragraphos in 4QHb (4Q428) 10 11 at the beginning of a new
hymn was not indicated in the parallel position in 1QHa VIII (Suk. = Puech XVI) 4. The signs
were probably meant to be ad hoc and were not to be transferred to additional copies. Probably
only in the case of the transmission of the proto-Masoretic manuscripts were such signs copied
to additional manuscripts, and, in that case, could easily be misunderstood (§ c10).
The following section markers are recognized in the Qumran scrolls, almost exclusively
between the lines, protruding into the margin, and in a few cases also below the last text unit, and
in three instances (4QpapPrQuot [4Q503] 24–25 2; 4QRebukes Reported by the Overseer
[4Q477] 2 ii 5, 9; 4QpapSap/Hymn [4Q498] 15) in the middle of the line.
(a) A horizontal or slightly curved line (paragraphos). For the different forms, see figs. 1 and
11.2a, 11.2 6. Sometimes, this paragraphos is formed as a straight line, but it often has a slightly
curved downstroke to the left (fig. 1.1) 1.1 or to the right (fig. 1.2), 1.2 is shaped like a fish hook, or a
more developed downstroke in a 45-degree angle, often gently rounded and with a small stroke on
top (figs. 1.3–4, 1.3 1.7b), 1.7b or in a 90-degree angle (MasSir; fig. 1.5). 1.5 This sign, which resembles the
sign for ‘ten’ in many Hebrew and Aramaic texts (DJD II, 98 and below § c9), is used in three
biblical (4QDeutb , 1QIsaa , 4QPsh ) and 29 nonbiblical texts from Qumran. For an example of a
paragraphos together with the surrounding text, see Isa 44:1 in illustr. 21. 21 224
a. Straight line protruding into the margin, with or without ornaments on the right and/or left side
1QIsa a , scribes A (chapters 1–33) and B (chapters 34–66)
Biblical Texts
224 The paragraph sign in 1QSb V noted in Burrows, The Dead Sea Scrolls is not visible on the plate.