scroll · Hebrew · OT

Great Isaiah Scroll

Also known as: 1QIsaa, 1QIsaiah-a

150 BC – 100 BC (~125 BC) · dated by mixed

Evidence card

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

2 sources

Artifact

scroll · Hebrew

Date basis

150 BC – 100 BC (~125 BC) · mixed

Survival

~100% physically present

Contents

Isaiah 1:1 – 66:24 (complete)

Artifact/map cue

Held at Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem · Discovery: 1947, Qumran Cave 1

Date

150 BC – 100 BC (~125 BC)

Passage represented

Isaiah 1:1 – 66:24 (complete)

How much survives

~100% of the claimed text is physically present

Why it matters

The single most important manuscript discovery for the Old Testament. A complete Isaiah scroll about 1,000 years older than any previously known Hebrew copy. Confirmed that the Masoretic text was transmitted with remarkable stability — but also revealed real, if mostly minor, textual variation.

What it contains

Isaiah — 1:1 – 66:24 (complete)

~100% of the claimed text is physically present.

Notable readings

Isaiah 53:11

1QIsa-a reads 'he shall see light' (יראה אור), agreeing with the LXX, against the Masoretic which omits 'light'

Affects how the Suffering Servant's vindication is read. Modern translations (NIV, NRSV, ESV note) follow the scroll.

Isaiah 7:14

Hebrew 'almah (young woman)

Same as Masoretic; LXX's 'parthenos' (virgin) is a translation choice, not a different Hebrew text.

Where & when

Held at: Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Discovery: 1947, Qumran Cave 1
Found by: Bedouin shepherds (Muhammed edh-Dhib)

Source trail

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