World Religions › Classical faiths › Second Temple Judaism
Dead Sea Scrolls
c. 250 BC – AD 68 (mostly after 150 BC); found 1946–1956· Scripture or text· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
About 900 ancient Jewish manuscripts found in caves near Qumran, by the Dead Sea, between 1946 and 1956.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Bedouin shepherds found the first scrolls in a cave in 1946 or 1947. Eleven caves eventually yielded tens of thousands of fragments from about 900 scrolls, mostly Hebrew, some Aramaic and Greek, on parchment and papyrus. About a quarter are books of the Hebrew Bible, every book except Esther. Others are hymns, commentaries, calendars and the rules of a strict sect, often identified as the Essenes.
Why it matters
They are by far the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, about a thousand years older than those known before, and reveal how varied Judaism was in Jesus' time.
Think of it like
Like finding copies of deeds a thousand years older than the oldest in the county records, and seeing the chain of title largely hold up.
Sources and history
Radiocarbon and handwriting dating; Roland de Vaux's excavations at Qumran (1951–56); full publication of the texts by about 2010; and high-resolution images posted online by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Questions and debates
Who wrote and hid them is debated: a sect living at Qumran, or Jerusalem groups hiding their libraries from the Romans around AD 68.
Connections (2)
▸Dead Sea Scrolls preserve texts of Second Temple JudaismHistorical record
The connection
The scrolls are a library from the late Second Temple period itself, not later copies. Besides scripture, they contain community rules, hymns, a plan for an end-time war and commentaries showing a group living apart, expecting God's final battle and rejecting Jerusalem's priests. They reveal how varied Judaism was before AD 70.
When and where
Copied about 250 BC–AD 68 and hidden in caves near Qumran, probably before Roman troops destroyed the site in AD 68 during the Jewish revolt.
Historical evidence
Radiocarbon dates, handwriting styles and coins from Qumran all fit the Second Temple era, and the texts refer to Hasmonean-era events and people.
Questions and debates
Whether the scrolls represent one sect, likely the Essenes, or a broad cross-section of Jewish writings carried from Jerusalem is debated.
▸Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest surviving manuscripts of The Torah (Five Books of Moses)Historical record
The connection
Before 1947, the oldest complete Hebrew Bibles dated from about AD 930–1010. The caves held dozens of Torah manuscripts, including about 30 of Deuteronomy, roughly a thousand years older. Most closely match the later standard (Masoretic) text, while some follow versions closer to the Greek Septuagint or the Samaritan Torah.
When and where
The Qumran caves; copied about 250 BC–AD 68. The oldest Torah fragments, such as an Exodus–Leviticus scroll from Cave 4, date to around 250 BC.
Historical evidence
Handwriting and radiocarbon dating of the scrolls, compared word by word with the medieval Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex.
Questions and debates
Tiny silver amulets from Ketef Hinnom, about 600 BC, quote the Priestly Blessing of Numbers 6, an older trace but not a manuscript. How varied texts narrowed to one standard is debated.