The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English

Edited by Martin G. Abegg, Peter W. Flint and Eugene Charles Ulrich

Retail Price: $39.95 CenturyOne Price: $0.00 Availability: Out-of-Print Format: Hardcover, 649pp. ISBN: 9780060600631 Publisher: Harper San Francisco Pub. Date: December 1999 Available in Paperback Dead Sea Scrolls Bible Book Information: Description Reviews About the Author Table of Contents Customer Reviews Find Similar Books Average Customer Review:

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From the dramatic find in the caves of Qumran, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible presents the world's most precious and ancient version of the Bible. One thousand years older than any existing manuscripts, these scrolls allow us to read the Bible it was in the time of Jesus.

Preserving parts of all but one biblical book, scrolls confirm that the text of the Old Testament as it has been handed down through the ages is largely correct. Yet, they also reveal numerous important differences. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible:

• Offers new and striking textual readings that clarify millennia-old puzzles
• Restores lost psalms
• Reveals previously unknown details about the lives of biblical figures
• Provides new information on how the Hebrew Bible was created

The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible presents all 220 of the Dead Sea biblical scrolls, arranged to be read in canonical order. The texts are translated into English by Eugene Ulrich, one of the three general editors of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Peter Flint and Martin Abegg Jr., the directors of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute. Commentary by the editors provides insight into the rich cultural and religious traditions behind the scrolls and the Bible itself.

"A fascinating and meticulously annotated collection of the world's most precious-and oldest-biblical manuscripts by three noted Dead Sea Scrolls scholars. ... a stunning glimpse at versions of the Hebrew scriptures completely unknown until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls."

— Neil Asher Silberman, author of The Hidden Scrolls, contributing editor Archeology Magazine

"In the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible three experts illustrate why the Bible has been transmitted faithfully and why sometimes an original reading may have been discovered; also they indicate readings, such as Psalm 22:16, that reveal a Hebrew text perhaps used by an author of a document in the New Testament. The result is an attractive, authoritative--and highly recommended--book."

— Professor J.H. Charlesworth, George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, and Editor of the Princeton Dead Sea Scrolls Project, Princeton Theological Seminary

"The biblical scrolls found in the Judean Desert are often mentioned and their great age frequently noted, but they are not included in English translations of the scrolls. Anyone wishing to know exactly what is in these ancient scrolls now has in this volume a comprehensive translation of the evidence together with introductions and notes. Abegg, Flint, and Ulrich are to be commended for making this valuable contribution to the study and dissemination of the scrolls."

— James C. VanderKam, University of Notre Dame, author of The Dead Sea Scrolls Today

"This meticulous compilation of and commentary on the hundreds of citations from the Hebrew scriptures in the Dead Sea Scrolls is a reference work that every serious student of the Bible will want to own."

— Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography

"The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible is just the kind of book that research scholars and students have been looking for: an exhaustive compendium of all the biblical manuscripts among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Assembled and annotated by three first-class and topnotch specialists, this volume will be of inestimable value to everyone involved in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Congratulations are certainly in order."

— David Noel Freedman, Editor-in-Chief, ANCHOR BIBLE PROJECT

"The Dead Sea Scrolls contain copies of biblical manuscripts that are more than a thousand years older than those previously available. Yet these texts are never included in the standard editions of the Scrolls, and have remained virtually inaccessible to the general public. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible fills a glaring gap in this regard. Here for the first time any reader can see at a glance how the readings from Qumran differ from other biblical texts. This will be an indispensible reference book for anyone interested in the history of the biblical text."

— John Collins, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Post-Biblical Judaism, The Divinity School at The University of Chicago

"This volume opens for the general reader the wealth of information for biblical studies to be culled from the Dead Sea Scrolls. It shows how Qumran manuscripts enable us to see the immense continuity of biblical tradition as well as the manner in which stabilization was accomplished by the Talmudic rabbis."

— Lawrence H. Schiffman, Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University

"The authors of The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible have done a great service....Now laymen can judge for themselves whether the biblical manuscripts which predate Christian times differ radically from the received text found, for example, in the King James version. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible is a magnificent piece of work.'

— Frank Moore Cross, Hancock Professor of Hebrew, Harvard University

"Here is a book we will soon wonder how we did without. Bible scholars will find it essential; students will find it stimulating and exciting; anyone interested in the beginnings of Judaism and Christianity will find it fascinating. This is a book many have been awaiting since the Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered half a century ago."

— N.T. Wright, author of The Meaning of Jesus

"Here, finally, are all the biblical manuscripts from the Judaean Desert caves translated and annotated, with explanatory introductions. It is a splendid complement to the translations of the non-biblical scrolls which HarperSanFrancisco published earlier. The texts are carefully compared with the traditional Masoretic Text as well as with the early Samaritan text of the Pentateuch and with ancient Greek translations. Here, as never before, the English reader can see personally just how fluid the Early Jewish or pre-Christian texts and canons of the First or Old Testament were, and how adaptable the biblical text was to ancient community concerns."

— James Sanders, President, Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center

"A welcome and exciting work. Now readers have a chance to get closer to the original words of the Bible. Read this book with a Bible alongside it, and you'll get a sense of how intriguing, instructive, and revealing it can be to explore the Bible in its earliest form."

— Richard Elliott Friedman, author of Who Wrote the Bible and The Hidden Book in the Bible

"This excellently-conceived translation of the biblical texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls will be a source of great information and inspiration for all educated readers, but especially for students, professors, pastors and ministers."

— Joseph A.Fitzmyer, S.J., Professor Emeritus, Biblical Studies, Catholic University of America

"For the first time all the biblical Qumran scrolls are now accessible in translation in this user-friendly book written by three prominent authorities in this field."

— Professor Emanuel Tov, Editor-in-Chief, Qumran Publication Project

"The biblical scrolls and fragments discovered at Qumran are highly significant for our understanding the early history of the Hebrew Bible. This translation of all the biblical materials among the Dead Sea Scrolls, along with lucid introductions and explanatory notes, is a welcome resource for all those interested in the Bible and its transmission."

— Carol Meyers, Professor of Biblical Studies and Archaeology, Duke University

"The biblical Dead Sea Scrolls have revolutionized our understanding of the Jewish scriptures, their origin, formation and role. Yet they remain largely ignored by the wider public that has devoured book after book on the non-biblical texts. Scholars, too, will find this volume invaluable. I have long wished for a resource such as this."

— Philip R. Davies, Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield

"[The editors] have completely succeed in presenting the complex evidence in a very clear and accessible way. It should be used both by scholars and by the general public."

— Florentino Garcia Martinez, author of The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated and of The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition

"This is an immensely useful work which makes the biblical Qumran material readily available in English for the first time for scholars and students. It deserves to be very widely used."

— John Barton, Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford

"This volume contains a wealth of detail from these ancient biblical manuscripts, all presented in a way which is readily accessible to the specialist and non-specialist alike. Thanks to the great labors of Abegg, Flint, and Ulrich we can now see at a glance both the various forms the scriptural texts took 2,000 years ago and also just how much of them has been preserved for us in the Dead Sea Scrolls."

— George J. Brooke, Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, University of Manchester

“The initiative to produce a translation into English of The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible is to be welcomed. The first translation will be most useful to students and readers of the Bible, and will surely stimulate the study of the history of transmission and interpretation of the biblical texts in Hebrew.”

— Professor Arie van der Kooij, Leiden University, Editor of Vetus Testamentum

"If you want to know what the Dead Sea Scrolls say about the text of the Bible and you want to read the 2000-year-old-texts themselves, this is the book to own."

— Hershel Shanks, Editor of Biblical Archaeology Review and author of The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls

"The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible provides lay persons, pastors and students easy access to the biblical scrolls and clear comment on their significance to the Old Testament."

— Michael A. Knibb, Samuel Davidson Professor of Old Testament Studies, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London

Martin Abegg JR. is co-director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University in British Columbia. He is one of the translators of The Dead Sea Scrolls (HarperSanFrancisco, 1996).

Peter Flint is co-director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University in British Columbia. He is the author of The Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls and the Book of Psalms and co-editor of The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years.

Eugene Ulrich is the John A. O'Brien professor at the University of Notre Dame. He is chief editor of the Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls and one of the translators of The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Introduction How to Read This Book TORAH Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Jubilees PROPHETS Joshua Judges Samuel Kings Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel The Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi Enoch Daniel OTHER BOOKS Psalms Job Proverbs Ben Sira (Sirach) Ruth The Song of Songs (Canticles) Qohelet (Ecclesiastes) Lamentations The Epistle of Jeremiah Esther Chronicles Ezra-Nehemiah Tobit Bibliography

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