16.06.2013 Views

The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

84 SCROLLS AND HEBREW SCRIPTURAL TEXTS<br />

reworking extended only to those two small specifically Samaritan features<br />

mentioned above, that most of <strong>the</strong> literary creativity displayed in<br />

<strong>the</strong> exp<strong>and</strong>ed version was <strong>the</strong> product of general Judaism, <strong>and</strong> that both<br />

editions were probably in use by Jews in <strong>the</strong> late Second Temple period.<br />

It is gratifying to observe that this dawn has moved toward full daylight<br />

in much of <strong>the</strong> biblical community.<br />

4QJer b (4Q71)<br />

If <strong>the</strong> MT <strong>and</strong> SP were vindicated as different collections of carefully preserved<br />

forms of <strong>the</strong> texts from antiquity, so too was <strong>the</strong> LXX. A fragment<br />

of Jer 9:22–10:22, for example, was discovered in Cave 4. 12 That fragment<br />

of 4QJer b holds <strong>the</strong> ends of about thirteen lines of text at <strong>the</strong> left<br />

edge of a skin. Since we assume that <strong>the</strong> column from which it came must<br />

have been symmetrical, with each of <strong>the</strong> lines normally holding approximately<br />

<strong>the</strong> same number of words <strong>and</strong> letters per line, we can safely conclude<br />

that 4QJer b provides a Hebrew witness to <strong>the</strong> type of parent text<br />

from which <strong>the</strong> LXX of Jeremiah was translated. <strong>The</strong> ends of lines 4–8<br />

of <strong>the</strong> fragment are translated below, with <strong>the</strong> translations of <strong>the</strong> spatially<br />

corresponding material in <strong>the</strong> LXX <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> MT:<br />

4QJer b (Jer 10:2–13)<br />

4 …<strong>the</strong> way of <strong>the</strong> nations…<br />

5 …with…gold <strong>the</strong>y beautify it; with hammers / [<strong>and</strong> nails…]<br />

6 …blue <strong>and</strong> purple [are <strong>the</strong>ir clo<strong>the</strong>s]…<br />

7 …will perish from <strong>the</strong> earth…<br />

8 …from <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> earth. Lightnings…<br />

LXX (Jer 10:2–13)<br />

4 …<strong>the</strong> ways of <strong>the</strong> nations…<br />

5 …with…gold <strong>the</strong>y are beautified; with hammers <strong>and</strong> nails…<br />

6 …blue <strong>and</strong> purple will clo<strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>m…<br />

7 …will perish from <strong>the</strong> earth…<br />

8 …from <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> earth. Lightnings…<br />

12. A preliminary transcription of 4QJer b (4Q71), as well as 4QJer a (4Q70), was<br />

published by John G. Janzen in Studies in <strong>the</strong> Text of Jeremiah (HSM 6; Cambridge, MA:<br />

Harvard University Press, 1973). For <strong>the</strong> critical edition, see Emanuel Tov, “4QJer b ,”<br />

in Qumran Cave 4.X: <strong>The</strong> Prophets (ed. E. Ulrich et al.; DJD 15; Oxford: Clarendon,<br />

1997), 171–76.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!