SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

218 Chapter 5: Writing Practices
did use such forms and 4QJer a used most of the final letters except for the final s≥ade. 284
According to Yardeni, only in the Herodian period did the use of the final letters become
established. 285 The differences between the various scribes of the large texts from cave 1,
including sections within scrolls, were described by Martin, Scribal Hands, I.90–96.
This as yet unregulated use of final and nonfinal forms is reflected first and foremost in the
rather frequent appearance of nonfinal forms in final position, but also in the less frequent use of
final forms in nonfinal position. The conditions under which these two groups of letters were
used differ, and in the latter case they often reflect mistakes.
In many Qumran texts as well as in several texts from Masada, nonfinal letters were
sometimes also written in final position. Among the Qumran texts, this practice is attested
especially in texts written in the Qumran scribal practice (ch. 8a), and less frequently so in other
texts. 286 The data recorded here are not as exhaustive as in the other categories analyzed above;
they are based on two lists compiled for this purpose, 287 reverse-order forms in the Qumran texts
culled from the database of the Israel Academy of the Hebrew Language referring to all nonbiblical
scrolls published until 1975 (list 1), and the final letters in the Qumran texts in nonfinal position
and nonfinal letters in final position included in the database of the Accordance computer
program (list 2).
The paleographical interpretation of final/nonfinal forms is sometimes subjective. Among
other things, one often needs to consider as a final letter not only the shapes that are known as
such from most texts, but also elongated nonfinal forms, which were meant to indicate the final
position, even in such letters as bet, he, and lamed (not covered by the examples below). As a
rule, however, the distinction between final and nonfinal forms is not problematical. The
following lists record the texts containing some or many nonfinal forms in final position as well as
final forms in nonfinal position.
List 1 almost exclusively contains texts written in the Qumran scribal practice: 1QH a , 1QS, 1QM, 1QDM
(1Q22), 1QApocryphal Prophecy (1Q25), 1QpHab, 1QpZeph (1Q15), 4Qpap pIsa c (4Q163), 4QpHos a (4Q166),
4QpPs a (4Q171), 4QFlor (4Q174), 4QTanh≥ (4Q176), 4QCatena A (4Q177), 4QpapS a (4Q255). It also contains one
text not written in that system, 4QJub e (4Q220). Altogether, the list contains fifteen texts, of which eleven are not
mentioned in list 2.
List 2 records forty-two texts written in the Qumran scribal practice: 1QH a , 1QpHab, 1QS, 1QM, 4QTest
(4Q175), 4QSapiential Work (4Q185), 4QJub f (4Q221), 4QpapJub h (4Q223–224), 4QPsJub a (4Q225), 4QD a
(4Q266), 4QD b (4Q267), 4QToh A (4Q274), 4QWork Containing Prayers B (4Q292), 4QRP c (4Q365),
4QApocryphal Pentateuch B (4Q377), 4Qpap paraKings et al. (4Q382), 4QMMT a (4Q394), 4QMMT d (4Q397),
4QShirShabb a (4Q400), 4QShirShabb d (4Q403), 4QShirShabb f (4Q405), 4QInstr c (4Q417), 4QInstr d (4Q418),
4QWays of Righteousness b (4Q421), 4QSapiential-Hymnic Work A (4Q426), 4QH a (4Q427), 4QH b (4Q428),
4QPersonal Prayer (4Q443), 4QNarrative C (4Q462), 4QWar Scroll-like Text B (4Q471), 4QM a (4Q491), 4QpapM f
(4Q496), 4QpapRitMar (4Q502), 4QpapPrQuot (4Q503), 4QDibHam a (4Q504), 4QpapDibHam c (4Q506),
4QpapPrFêtes c (4Q509), 4QpapRitPur B (4Q512), 11QSefer ha-Milh≥amah (11Q14), 11QT a (11Q19), 11QT b
(11Q20).
List 2 also contains sixteen texts not written in the Qumran scribal practice or for which insufficient orthographic
evidence was available: Copper Scroll (3Q15), 4QText with a Citation of Jubilees (4Q228), 4QHarvesting (4Q284a),
4Q327, 4Q370, 4Q378, 4QapocrJosh b (4Q379), 4QpsEzek a (4Q385), 4QLiturgical Work A (4Q409), 4QLament by
a Leader (4Q439), 4QApocryphal Psalm and Prayer (4Q448), 4QNarrative I (4Q469), 4QText Mentioning
284 A. Yardeni, The Book of Hebrew Script (Heb.; Jerusalem 1991) 152.
285 A. Yardeni, “A Deed of Sale from the Judaean Desert: Nah≥al S≥e