scroll · Hebrew · OT

4Q Genesis Fragments

Also known as: 4QGen, 4Q Genesis

150 BC – 25 BC (~50 BC) · dated by paleography

Evidence card

A quick read on the physical object before the interpretive summary.

2 sources

Artifact

scroll · Hebrew

Date basis

150 BC – 25 BC (~50 BC) · paleography

Survival

~1% physically present

Contents

Genesis fragmentary Genesis material from Qumran Cave 4

Artifact/map cue

Held at Israel Antiquities Authority · Discovery: 1952, Qumran Cave 4

Date

150 BC – 25 BC (~50 BC)

Passage represented

Genesis fragmentary Genesis material from Qumran Cave 4

Fragmentary or partial witness

How much survives

~1% of the claimed text is physically present

Why it matters

A cluster of small Genesis fragments from Qumran. They do not give us anything close to a complete Genesis, but they move the physical evidence for the book back into the late Second Temple period instead of the medieval manuscript tradition.

What it contains

Genesis — fragmentary Genesis material from Qumran Cave 4 (partial)

~1% of the claimed text is physically present.

Where & when

Held at: Israel Antiquities Authority
Discovery: 1952, Qumran Cave 4

Source trail

Named catalogues, editions, libraries, or scholarship used for this manuscript page.