~ DEAD SEA SCROLLS ~

~ DEAD SEA SCROLLS ~

"The scrolls include manuals of discipline, hymnbooks, biblical commentaries and apocalyptic writings; two of the oldest known copies of the Book of Isaiah, almost wholly intact; and fragments of every book in the Old Testament except that of Esther. Among the latter is a fanciful paraphrase of the Book of Genesis. Also found were texts, in the original languages, of several books of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. These texts—none of which was included in the Hebrew canon of the Bible—are Tobit, Sirach, Jubilees, portions of Enoch, and the Testament of Levi, hitherto known only in early Greek, Syriac, Latin, and Ethiopic versions."

I got interested in the scrolls way back when and have read a number of books about them and the religio~politics surrounding their publication - about the Christian~like Essenes sect and the Qumran community. I find it interesting (and a little baffling) that I rarely here the scrolls mentioned in discussions like this. Why? They are the oldest extant copy of much of the old testament as well as other sacred texts - closer to the hand of God you might say - mostly in early Hebrew with a bit of Greek.

This site offers a searchable DVD of the entire find:
http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/3455

A couple more interesting sites:
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561742/Dead_Sea_Scrolls.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/deadsea.scrolls.exhibit/overview.html