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← all claimsMixed

"The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the Old Testament has been transmitted unchanged."

They confirm the OT has been transmitted carefully — not unchanged.

Evidence card

The rating is tied to the stated evidence, the stated caveat, and the named source trail below.

Mixed
Evidence
What can be affirmed
Caveat
What the slogan hides
Source trail
2 named sources

What's actually true

The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a) is, on the whole, remarkably close to the Masoretic text 1,000 years later. For most of the OT, the scrolls confirm scribal continuity.

What gets left out

There are real differences. 4QSam-a often agrees with the LXX against the Masoretic. 4QDeut-q reads 'sons of God' against the Masoretic 'sons of Israel' at Deut 32:8. 11QPs-a contains psalms not in the Masoretic Psalter. The scrolls show the Hebrew Bible was not yet uniform in the Second Temple period. The careful transmission is real; the 'unchanged' claim is a simplification.

Source trail

Named scholarship, catalogues, or projects used for this claim rating.

2 sources
Citation cue
Tov 2012
Citation cue
Ulrich 1999